ISGTI 2018

7-8April2018, IIT Delhi, India

Effect Of Road Mesh Reinforcement In Granular Bases Under

Repeated Loading

LekshmiSuku
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore – 560012
E-mail:j.lekshmi.nair@gmail.com

Ratnakar Mahajan
Maccaferri Environmental Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon -122001
E-mail:ratnwdc@maccaferri-india.com

G L Sivakumar Babu
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore – 560012
E-mail:gls@civil.iisc.ernet.in

ABSTRACT: Key factors that influence the design of paved and unpaved roads are the strength and
stiffness of the pavement layers. Among other factors, the strength of pavements depends on the
thickness and quality of the aggregates used in the pavement base layer. There is a need for the
development of sustainable construction methods which can handle aggregate requirements with least
available resources and provide good performance. Hence it is imperative to strive for alternatives to
achieve improved quality of pavements using supplementary potential materials and methods. The use
of road mesh, manufacture from double twisted steel wire mesh is a potential and reliable solution for
the lack of availability of aggregates and studies are conducted in this direction. The primary objective
of this study is to reduce thickness of the base layer and to improve the performance of base layer
under heavy loading conditions. Repeated plate load tests were conducted on unreinforced as well as
road mesh reinforced base sections. The results of the experimental studies showed better performance
of road mesh reinforced base sections by reducing the permanent deformations. The improvement in
performance of reinforced sections were also measured in terms of resilient deformation and predicted
resilient modulus from resilient deformations. The studies also include the role of reinforcement in
improving the pressure distribution in the base layer and the pressure above subgrade level in terms of
stress distribution angle.
Keywords:repeated loading; permanent deformation; resilient deformation; resilient modulus.

THIS PAPER HAS BEEN INCLUDED FOR PRESENTATION IN THE SYPOSIUM BUT NOT
INCLUDED IN PROCEEDINGS AS IT IS BEING SUBMITTED FOR INCLUSION IN
SPECIAL ISSUE OF INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON TRANSPORTATION GEOTECHNICS
COMMOMERATING 70 YEARS OF INDIAN GEOTECHNICAL SOCIETY.

161