Teaching Methodology of Flexible Pavement Materials and Pavement Systems

Abstract

Flexible pavement materials exhibit complex mechanical behavior, in the sense, that they not only show stress and temperature dependency but also are sensitive to moisture conditions. This complex behavior presents a great challenge to the faculty in bringing across the level of complexity and providing the concepts needed to understand them. The interaction of these materials within a pavement system is still not understood very well. Solving complex pavement systems has always been very challenging for researchers and practitioners. The authors present a methodical way of presenting this complex subject so that the student does not get lost in the details but also gets the perspective of the process of understanding complex material and the pavement system. First, it is necessary to explain whether the individual layers in the pavement system serve their purpose, and then explain the pavement system focusing on the interaction between layers. The concept of interaction does not change if the mechanical behaviors of the individual layers are modified. Then change the properties of individual layers to realistic values, briefly explaining the test methods and illustrating with actual laboratory data. Finally a backcalculation analysis and a field visit are conducted to observe the falling weight deflectometer tests. Total: 207