Effects of Soil Compaction in the Fight against Unpaved Roads Degradation Due to Erosion Caused by Heavy Rain: Proposition of a Specific CBR Evaluation Model

Unpailt roads are generally subject to erosion, when they need to be bitumen, civil engineers need to know the geotechnical capabilities of the soil layers to be used as support, among these capabilities, for example, soil characteristics to withstand erosion. CBR has often been used to classify these soils according to their compaction. In this article, we propose a correlation between CBR and eroded soil mass through a simulator. Indeed, in this article we show that using a simulator, soils can be classified according to their ability to withstand water erosion, whether internal or external. Indeed it is shown that the mass of eroded soil is related to the compaction capacity of the soil just as the CBR also has. We study the effects and influence of soil compaction on the ability of an unpaved road to resist erosion caused by falling raindrops. To do this, lateritic soil is submitted to different compaction pressures. The compacted soil is then submitted to CBR test and rain fall through a mini rain simulator. Correlations between eroded soil masse and compaction pressure as well as CBR are derived. The study shows that the compaction reduces the erodibility and increases the bearing capacity of soil. The formula obtained is significant because we have a new way of evaluating soils in the laboratory.

Unpaved road erosion after heavy storms in mountain areas of northern China

More frequent extreme rainfall events associated with global climate change cause greater challenges for soil conservation.Severe erosion occurs on many unpaved roads since these structures create important water flow paths during heavy storms.The present research aimed to investigate the intensity and influencing factors of unpaved road erosion under varied land use and management conditions(sloping cropland,terraced cropland,forest&grass).The erosion occurred in the watersheds contributing runoff water to roads after the greatest rainfall event recorded in the mountain area of northern China caused by Typhon Lekima.The research was conducted in an agricultural-forest-dominated watershed based on field investigation and UAV-based image analysis.A road erosion level classification standard was given according to the occurrence of rills,ephemeral gullies,and gullies.Significant erosion happened on 67% of the unpaved roads;42% of them suffered moderate to severe erosion in which ephemeral gullies or gullies developed.The average erosion amount from these roads was 2280.75 t ha-1 and was significantly influenced by the watershed land use type and management.The dominant factor governing unpaved road erosion associated with terraced cropland was vegetation coverage on roads.Drainage area was the most important factor for road erosion in sloping cropland and forest&grass land,and road gradient was also a critical factor.Terraces,and forest&grass in drainage areas significantly reduced unpaved road erosion by 85%and,47%,respectively,compared to sloping cropland.More integrated measures should be used to prevent unpaved road erosion.The results of this research can be applied to road protection against erosion in heavy storms.

Assessing Gravel Roads Condition to Examine Trends and Behaviors of Gravel Roads in Rural Areas in Kyela District

Gravel roads are an economical choice where traffic volume is low. Many gravel roads were constructed in rural areas in the Kyela district and they were well-served for many years. Besides the gravel roads, the main challenge faced is the issue of unpaved road condition deterioration by the behaviors of road materials. The study selected three gravel rural roads with a total of 31.24 kilometers as constructed roads to gravel standard. The aim of this study was to assess gravel roads condition to examine trends and behaviors of gravel roads in rural areas. A descriptive analysis was conducted to determine trends and behaviors of gravel roads. The methods used to collect data were observation and physical measurement. The results show that there was more than one road distress identified and assessed on each study road. It was noted that all the study roads had excellent to poor distress conditions associated with poor road materials and lack of maintenance. This study recommended that road authorities improve the current condition by avoiding the use of poor road materials in order to reduce surface deterioration associated.