Response mechanism for widened pavement structure subjected to ground differential settlement

By the use of a large-scale ground differential settlement simulator, a full-size model test is performed to study the strain response and the deformation behavior of both the wearing course of asphalt cement and the base course of cement-stabilized gravel. Moreover, with the differential settlement at the bottom of the pavement structure as the constraint condition, a plane finite element model is established, which is used to study the stress variation of different pavement layers in response to the differential settlement of varying magnitudes. It shows that, under the effects of the ground differential settlement, the wearing course is subjected to the tensile stress while the base course to the compressive stress and the maximum additional tensile stress and compressive stress occur in the area of 1 m from the splicing joint between the new and the old subgrade. Plastic deformation develops in both layers when the ground differential settlement reaches 14 cm. When the differential settlement at the bottom of the pavement goes up to 1 cm, the maximum additional stress in the surface of the base course will reach 0. 28 MPa, which surpasses 0.276 MPa that is specified in the current specifications as the maximum splitting tensile strength for cement-stabilized base material.