CAL/APT Program: Test Results from Accelerated Pavement Test on Pavement Structure Containing Aggregate Base (AB)--Section 501RF

This report is the third in a series which describe the results of tests on full-scale pavements constructed an the Richmond Field Station (RFS) which have been designed and constructed according to Caltrans procedures. It contains a summary of the results of their interpretation of the Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) tests on the second of four pavements test sections, and asphalt-concrete sections containing an untreated aggregate base designated Section 501RF. The tests on the four test sections have been performed as part of Goal 1 of the CAL/APT Strategic Plan (1). One objective of the test program is to develop data to quantitatively verify existing Caltrans pavement design methodologies for asphalt treated permeable base (ATPB) pavements and conventional aggregate base pavements with regard to failure under trafficking at moderate temperatures (Goal 1), while preparing a uniform platform on which overlays (Goal 3 of the Strategic Plan) will be constructed which also will be trafficked. Other objectives are: to quantify the effective elastic moduli of the various pavement layers, based on an ad-hoc use of layered elastic analysis; to quantify the stress dependence of the pavement layers; to determine the failure mechanisms of the various layers; and to determine and compare the fatigue lives of the two types of pavement structure.