Application of Fundamental Geotechnical Testing and FEA in the Development of Design Methods for Unpaved Roads and Platforms

Dr Andrew Lees

Under pressure to cut costs and achieve net zero carbon targets, the construction industry needed a new approach to its use of aggregates. Alternative, lower-quality and recycled aggregates are becoming more prevalent. Their mechanical properties are different to and more variable than the high-quality, quarried aggregates that were the norm.

How can we design with these alternative aggregates and maintain the balance between economy, sustainability and site safety? Many of the existing design methods are derived and validated for high-quality, quarried aggregates only.

This seminar will present the derivation of a new approach to the design of working platforms and haul roads based on fundamental soil parameters and soil mechanics principles. New calculation methods have been derived by identifying relationships from extensive FEA parametric studies validated by full-scale testing. The input parameters for both the FEA parametric studies and new calculation methods are determined from large triaxial tests. A wide range of aggregates have been tested to build a database of both high-quality and alternative and recycled aggregates.  Since the input parameters to the newly derived design methods are standard soil mechanics parameters, working platforms and haul roads can be designed as soon as any aggregate type has been tested. Hundreds of applications using these new design approaches and alternative aggregates have been built across the globe and selection of case studies will be presented.

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