Verification of the Structural Design Parameters for Unbound Layers of Finnish Road Structures

Approaches used for the structural design of road pavements are most often combinations of mechanistic and empirical elements, the latter ones of which take care of adaptation to the local ambient conditions and available construction materials. In Finland, the standard design approach is to use so called Oedemark’s bearing capacity concept, in which the overall stiffness of a road structure is designed to meet a target value set based on the number of equivalent standard axle loads (ESALs) during an expected service life period. In the meantime, the stiffness value for each structural layer material is estimated based on its granularity and location in road structure, including, thus, at least to some extent indirectly also the stress conditions under which each material is exposed to during a heavy vehicle loading. However, when the design stiffness values are compared to those determined based on back-calculated response measurement values from two extensively instrumented road sections using a 3D finite element model, it is evident that the standard design stiffness values for unbound layer materials are far too low for describing the true mechanical responses of the instrumented road sections. Therefore, they cannot be applied as such in any purely mechanistic pavement performance analyses and related service life estimates. More realistic values for structural design parameters are suggested in this paper.acceptedVersionPeer reviewe

Integrated Monitoring of Seasonal Variations and Structural Responses to Enable Intelligent Asset Management of Road Infrastructures

In 2017, Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency (FTIA) launched an open testing ecosystem of intelligent transport and infrastructure solutions, Aurora. The Aurora test area consists of a 10 km section of main highway E8 South from the village of Muonio in the Western part of Finnish Lapland. Regarding the road infrastructure a key element of the testing ecosystem consists of two extensively instrumented road sections, one of which is located on stiff subgrade soil area and the other one on a softer subgrade soil. Commissioned by FTIA the structural instrumentation of Aurora monitoring sections was accomplished jointly by Tampere University (TAU) and Roadscanners Ltd (RS).acceptedVersionPeer reviewe