Characterising the permanent deformation of subgrade soils under seasonal variation

Rutting, a prevalent failure mode in flexible pavements, largely stems from subgrade issues. Despite this, there is a lack of standard protocols to evaluate subgrade rutting or permanent deformation (PD). This study attempted to characterise PD in subgrades, focusing on a poorly graded sand and two silty sands. Moisture contents above and below optimum levels were considered to account for seasonal variations. The research involved adapting a test to assess the PD by determining typical stresses on the subgrade. Moreover, given these soils’ unsaturated state and medium- to fine-grained nature, suction is an important factor. Suction-controlled multi-stage repeated load triaxial tests were conducted, and the results were fitted by a PD model modified to account for suction. The characterisation was compared with the subgrade strain criterion used in pavement design solutions. Results indicated discrepancies between the PD characterisation and strain criteria predictions, with the silty sands performing better than the poorly graded sand, consistent with the shakedown theory.