Acquisition of Specialized Equipment for the Dynamic Testing of Geomaterials

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

Abstract

This proposal requests funding for supplementing the purchase of a servo-hydraulic material testing system. Two-thirds of the funding required has been committed by external sources, namely the Asphalt Paving Association of Washington, Washington State DOT, and internally by Washington State University (WSU). This system is to be utilized jointly by the geotechnical and pavement engineering faculty at WSU in conducting student/technical personnel training and research. It will allow hands-on training of an average of 75 students enrolled in 5 undergraduate and graduate courses to state of the art methods of asphalt concrete and soil testing. These include the resilient modulus of asphalt concretes (AASHTO TP31/ASTM D4123), the fatigue and creep testing of asphalt concretes (AASHTO TP9 and TP-9, resp.) and the resilient modulus of aggregates/soils (AASHTO T294-94). Two particular research studies will be made possible with the proposed servo-hydraulic material testing system. The first will explore the visco-plastic response of the constituents of asphalt concretes to dynamic loads utilizing imaging techniques. The second will study the dynamic response of cohesive soil subgrades to shear stresses of various magnitudes and frequencies, in the light of recent developments in critical state soil mechanics.