Investigation of behavior of geosynthetic reinforced highway base layer under repeated loads

In this study, a series of experiments have been conducted on the base layer used in the design of flexible pavements. Five experiments were carried out to examine the potential benefit of geocell and geogrid reinforcement in the base course under repeated loads. The results of this study are evaluated in the sense of total, permanent and elastic deformation, Traffic Benefit Ratio (TBR), Rut Depth Reduction (RDR) and percentage of elastic deformation. In the light of the results of this study, geocell and geogrid-reinforced base layers performed well as compared with the unreinforced section. Furthermore, it was observed that as the thickness of the base layer increases, reduction in permanent deformation increases remarkably. While TBR values of 300 mm thick geogrid and geocell-reinforced base layers at 17 mm permanent deformation are 5.78 and 8.27, respectively, RDR values of those are 43.36% and 48.27% at the end of 2000 load cycles, respectively.Furthermore, the inclusion of geocell and geogrid in the base layer, elastic deformations have become more pronounced compared to the unreinforced section. However, the geogrid reinforced base layer exhibited more elastic behaviour than the geocell-reinforced base.