Correlation between resilient modulus and plastic deformation for cohesive subgrade soil under repeated loading

Pavement performance is related to resilient modulus and plastic deformation of pavement materials, which in turn are affected by environmental conditions and traffic loading. A series of triaxial tests was conducted on a residual lateritic soil for 10,000 load repetitions, with some specimens subjected to 100,000 load repetitions, to characterize the behavior of cohesive subgrades under repeated loading, including resilient modulus and plastic deformation. The shakedown concept was used to describe the accumulated plastic deformation and the strain-hardening and softening behavior. Experimental results show that the resilient modulus of cohesive subgrades exhibits strain-hardening behavior under low stress levels. In the meantime, the rate of plastic strain accumulation becomes diminutive. Soil under this condition is in a stable state. Conversely, under high stress levels, cohesive soil tends to soften after a specific number of load applications and accumulates excessive plastic strain and leads to an unstable state. To predict the plastic strain of subgrade soil under repetitive loading, regression models incorporating the strain-hardening behavior for a cohesive soil were used.