ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0002-4476-7380

Graduation Semester and Year

2021

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Civil Engineering

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Xinbao Yu

Abstract

The correlation of meteorological data and pavement conditions is crucial for winter pavement maintenance, this is the main reason that it is so important to understand in what ways pavement responds to cold fronts as well as when the formation of ice on a pavement surface can be expected. The pavement surface and its underlying subsurface layers combine to create a system with the behavior of the surface being influenced by both the air temperature above it, as well as the temperature and thermodynamic processes occurring in the sublayers below it. Both the pavement surface as well as the sublayers are influenced by precipitation as well, although the influence from precipitation is more readily apparent on the surface. This thesis presents a specially designed model column, consisting of soil and a concrete slab, tested in a freezer box to investigate the pavement response to cold fronts. Soil samples were collected from a site at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). These samples were tested according to ASTM standards and classified using the United Soil Classification System. The samples were then compacted in the specially designed soil box, with thermistors and moisture sensors placed throughout the lifts of soil. A concrete slab was then placed on top of the soil with thermistors installed at different depths within the interior of the slab as well as thermocouples on the surface. The system was then moved into a freezer box where it was wrapped with R30 insulation and tested using several different weather scenarios, designed with historical data provided by DFW. The sensors installed in the system recorded temperature changes, while instrumentation in the freezer box itself recorded the ambient temperature and the relative humidity in the freezer box. From the results of the various testing scenarios, it can be observed that there is a significant time difference between the rate of change in ambient freezer temperature and the slab response, this difference becomes even more prominent when observing the temperature trends of the soil. This difference can be attributed to the thermal capacity of both the soil and the concrete slab, with the thermal capacity of the soil having the most influence on how the slab behaves when exposed to variations in temperature.

Keywords

Pavement weather, Pavement soil interaction

Disciplines

Civil and Environmental Engineering | Civil Engineering | Engineering

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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