Effect of density and moisture content on the resilient response of unbound granular material

Abstract

Unbound granular material is used in the pavement structure and usually comprises the bulk of the structural and foundation layers of a typical South African pavement. The term ‘unbound granular material’ refers to the classification of natural material, which has not been modified in any way. Various mechanistic-empirical models for the resilient response of unbound granular material have been developed over the years. However, few have incorporated important influencing parameters such as moisture or density on the basic stress-strain relationship or linked variables of the models to basic engineering properties of unbound granular material. This study builds on previous work by Theyse (2008a) and the cord modulus model developed by Theyse (2012). The Theyse (2012) model was selected to be further investigated, since it modelled the trends observed in the data realistically. The model depicts the stress dependent behaviour of unbound granular material, where an increase initial modulus is observed for increasing confinement pressure, as well as initial stress-softening with increasing stress ratio followed by stress stiffening. The model was calibrated for all bulk material samples under consideration in this thesis. The calibration process included linking variables of the model to mathematical functions that approximate the trends observed when variables were considered against level of saturation. A parametric analysis indicated that the saturation and stress-dependent cord modulus model realistically predict material behaviour. The saturation and stress-dependent cord modulus model was refined further and calibrated for crushed and natural unbound granular material. This refinement did not negatively influence the accuracy or ability to realistically predict the material behaviour. Basic material properties could be linked to predictive statistical distributions that could estimate the range of modulus values that can be expected for the material under consideration. However, the variables of the saturation and stress-dependent cord modulus model could not be linked to basic material properties due to the limit set of results available.