Insulated Flexible Pavements for use in Cold Regions Applications

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Funding Agency: DOD

Abstract: 

This study focuses on developing a pavement insulation design methodology that integrates cost-effective, lightweight, and readily available materials into cold-region pavement systems. The approach builds on the principle of balancing thermal and mechanical performance, where insulation layers reduce heat transfer between ambient air and underlying pavement layers to delay freeze–thaw cycles in frost-susceptible unbound materials. Large, instrumented pavement “boxes” (4 ft. × 4 ft. × 2 ft.) along with full-scale pavement test strips (30ft long by 12ft wide) were constructed to quantify the thermal response of different insulation materials and assess their influence on pavement performance. The outcomes will establish design inputs for insulated pavements, linking material properties with structural and thermal behavior to support reliable and practical design procedures for cold-region transportation infrastructure.

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