Investigation of Mechanical and Hydrologic Characteristics of Porous Asphalt Pavement with a Geocell Composite

Materials (Basel). 2021 Jun 9;14(12):3165. doi: 10.3390/ma14123165.

Abstract

Porous asphalt pavement is a part of the permeable pavement system, which can be used to mitigate the negative impacts of urbanisation on the water hydrological cycle and environment. This study aims to assess the mechanical and hydrologic characteristics of porous asphalt pavements, with and without geocell composites, using a plate load test, falling weight deflectometer test, and rainfall simulation test. The corresponding results indicate that the elastic modulus of the unreinforced pavement is lower than that of the reinforced pavement. The analysis demonstrates that the use of geocell composites effectively increases the load-bearing capacity of the pavement. When the base layer is reinforced with geocells, its load-bearing capacity increases. Observation of the rainfall simulation tests on the reinforced pavement indicates that the reinforced pavement effectively handles the surface runoff.

Keywords: falling weight deflectometer; geocell composite; hydrologic characteristics; modulus of elasticity; porous asphalt pavement.