ass 16(1) |A Broad-scale Study of Moisture Conditions in Pavement Subgrades throughout Som Mrcuawics Section, Connconweatat Scuayriric aNo Inpusraiat, Reseanci ORGANISATION, MELBOURNE, 1 occurrences was used at the Great Soil Group Inaio determine characteristic areas for study of the moisture variable. ‘The [Mreatie pattern. frequently correlated with the soil pattem but elimate and carnace considered independently in choosing sites for the installation of Australia L—Factors in Planning a Regional Study of Moisture Variation in Pavement Subgrades by G. D, Aramsox ax B, G. Ricaanos [AUSTRATIA Susntany ‘The pedologieal pattern of apparatus Introduction ‘The significance of the moisture variable in the deter. mination of pavement design has been recognized by all advanced road engineers sinee Roman times. Perforee this recognition has been on a sub-quantitative basis ‘and, until recently, the application of Imowledge con- coming the effects of water on pavement behaviour hag been ‘through the art, rather than the seience, of engineering. _In Australia, the extreme vange of elimatie, condi- tions (dominated by semi-aridity), together with the demand for minimum cost, roads to serve a large fountry with a small population, has inculeated in lead- ng road engineers an awareness of the need for full comprehension of the quantitative role of moisture in pavement design and performance. ‘This awareness has been heightened lately by the conflicts demonstrated between the conclusions from early investigations undertaken in England, South Afriea and Australia (Coleman. and Croney, 1952; Jennings, 1950; Aitehi- Son, 1951). Whereas the early postulate in England ‘was that of the establishment ‘of & moisture eondition in equilibrium with the water table (and usually approximating the wet end of the seasonal moisture qyule), in South Afriea the postulate was one of con finuows wetting (and heave in expansive soils) ; while ‘Australia. tie early eonelusion was one of equilib. rium at high suetions (not in equilibrium with a water Table) coupled with a slow change (if any) in the direction of further drying. It was recognized that these conflicting conclusions and the practical implications of this problem were such that a full-scale investigation should be under- taken to provide data to be used for design purposes in all parts of the Australian continent. At the seme time it Was realized that the moisture conditions at any position beneath, or adjacent to, a roadway eould be attributed to a combination of two principal factors: the regional cffeet, in which it could be expected that Climate and regional geology or pedology would be Gominant; and the local effect, in which construction methods nd loeal topography and hydrology would be dominant. Tt was considered therefore that it would not be ‘unreal to separate the investigation into two phases, the frst dealing with the regional effect and the second Healing with local effects. ‘This series of papers refers nly t9 a regional type of study—one which was under taken gaan attempt to provide a framework of experi. rental knowledge whieh eould lead subsequently to nore detailed studies of local effects. (It should be Umphesized thet there is no implieation in the above Statements of a minor or a major elect.) Following extensive discussions undertaken ino ritteas of the National, Association of the State Road ‘Ruthorities of Australia, a country-wide programme af collaborative investigation into the moistare condi. fiona in pavement subgrades was initiated with the GSLRO. ts the principal sponsor and participant, Gach State Road Authority contributed to the cost of the programme and maintained an active interest in the work. The programme of investigation embraced — (1) The study of the soils, geology and climatic conditions throughout ‘Australia, as the basis for the selection of “representative sites” for jnvestigation ‘The development of adequate instrumentation for moisture studies principally in the field, but also in the laboratory. ‘The installation of ém sifu moisture measuring apparatus ata number of sites throughout Australia, with sufficient instrumentation at each site to provide data on long and short {erm changes in moisture eonditions, as well @ @)MOISTURE CONDITIONS IN PA’ as data on possible causes for these changes. The intended number of sites wos not less than 12, but with as many extra sites as economically possible (15 principal sites were studied). (4) The continuous accumulation of data from thes 1nd the interpretation of these dat to provide, ultimately, information suitable for pavement design purposes (relevant of ourse only to the regionally representative sonditions). Although this project was first planned in 1950, and the instrumentation and site selection phase operation were put in hand shortly the not until 1961 that the bulk of the field installations was commissioned. In this paper attention is given only to the factors, involved in site selection for such 2 broad-seale stud ‘The companion papers cover instrumentation develop: ment and procedures, installation details and_sum- maries of data, and finally an emperical basis for design. EMENT SUBGRADES—AUSTRALIA In secking @ broad-seale definition of the soil patt throughout Australia there could be the pedological classification which had been suramar ized for this eountry by Stephens (1956) following the ier work of Prescott, Complete coverage of the eountxy was available only at the mapping detail eor- responding to the Great Soil Group eategory of elassi a no alternative to fication. More than 40 Great Soil Groups were recognized leading to 21 mapping units (Stephens, 1961}. ‘The relevant map seale was 1 : 5,000,000, ‘The Great Soil Group provided a convenient level of sifieation in that the number of units was workable, while the morphological attributes of each Great Soil Group (Stephens, 1956) were sufficiently distinct. to permit ready recognition. urthermore the chemical characteristics of representative profiles from each Great Soil Group had been defined (Stace, 1961). Selection of representative sites in terms of this level of the pedological classification was therefore accepted. CLIMATE MAP | AUSTRALIA A-superbumid climate ‘Bohumid climate de —subrhumid climate )—seminarid climate E—ard climate ‘hot eimate 8 —warm climate 4--molstre dfn in eve sion 3508 precipitation in coal 8 mosiths ah 50s precipitation in hot 6 months (cool climate Bi timate ‘god mote in every season Sc fret cis defetcy fy Ammer sore more deficony in winter Fiovne 1—Climate map of Australia (after Gentil, 1948).SOIL MAP OF —~ MOISTURE IN SOLS BENEATIE COVERED AnRasMOISTURE CONDITIONS IN PAVEMENT SUBGRAD! psAUSTRALTA ast Table 1 THE BROAD RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CLIMATIC ZONES, GREAT SOIL GROUPS AND UNSATURATION EFFECTS IN SOILS (after Preseott, 10 “Tapas ae Gina | Sorin | cao ot te Average Setoa Si! Mose Regine Tadex Continent oe - _ - ~T erey ana ainfall exesaia evaporation for a few monty oaly Uy an amomt eae, 30 sufficient to maintain vegetative cover but not sufficient to saturate own wis} the wil prot, A peraent il mole doit exist eoeia evaporation for approximately one half of the A condition of 2er0 soll moisture defiit applies for a Hiited bat forthe grater part of the your the wl mletere | brown | o earth and black earths | | efit is hig Poisoned Raingall exeoeils evaporation fpreater part of the year ol molataro deli is zero or sal for about one balf of tho year. | ‘The princi re shown (Aitchison and Proseott, 1955) that there were ned in several ways, but that by Gentilli (1948) widespresd occurrences of lateritie and associated ter- ils, as well as large systems of sand dunes regions as proposed by Gentilli. It is evident that the and sheots (see figures 8 and 4) climates include almost all possibilities except those — Nevertheless it was apparent that many of the associated with extreme cold, dominant soils of Australia were not unrelated to eur- Preseott (1949) defined the climatie zones of rent climate—as is evident from a comparison of Australia in terms of a simple climatie index figures 1 and 2. Frequently therefore the selection of P a-site to represent a principal soil meant that a specific de was accepted. Figure 1 illustrates the range of climatic tiary relic K— (where P is the presipitation and H isthe liate sone wan sted slough this dine avays B Sites were therefore chosen on the dual basis of Great evaporation from a free water surface) and indicated Soil Group and elimate. No attempt was made to study an elementary correlation between the climatic zone, all major soils or all major climates, Tt was realized the dominant soil (expressed in terms of Great Soil that there was no need for investigation of any soil in Groups) and the soil moisture regime, ‘These relation- an abnormally humid environment nor for any studies ships are summarized in table 1 of desert sands. Attention was concentrated primar’ However, it was well appreciated that there were on soils with a significant clay content occurring in many exceptions to the simplo relationship between environments such that some seasonal long-term mois dominant soil and current climate, In particular, it was ttre defleioney might be expected. AUSTRALIA Ae A EE RELICT SOILS cont 8.—Austal sas of laterite and tertiary relict soils, Frou 4.—Australias areas of dune systems and sand sheets18 Characteristics of representative sites In order to ensure that each site was acceptable as a representative of its region, several factors other than soil and climate were established as basie requirements. ‘These defined in effect the need for the installation site to reflect a modal soil in its characteristic environment, with 2 pavement of standard form constructed in a manner least likely to introduee any loeal effects. Specifically, for each chosen Great Soil Group an installation site was selected to comply with the follow- ing requirements:— (a) the soil profile should be typieal of the Soil Group; (b) it should occur ina mapped area of appre- clable extent, within whieh the Soil Group is dominant; (e) it showld have topograp mapped area; typienl of the MOISTURE IN SOILS BENEATH COVERED AREAS (a) it should have vegetation typical of the area and unlikely to abnormally influence moisture ‘eonditions beneath the road it should have no abnormal surface or internal drainage eonditions: (£) it should havo the road pa fon the subgrade, ie. no cut or fll; «) (g) itshould have the pavement sealed to a width, of 18 ft. or greater; (h) it should haye the surface seal in average or better eondition. ‘Where more than one installation was chosen on the same Soil Group, climatic eonditions were considered. ‘Whore possible it was endeavoured to obtain the ex. ‘tremes of elimatie conditions occurring in the mapped areas of the Group, eg. summer rainfall and winter rainfall or most arid and most humid, By the choiee of such extremes it was planned not only to investigate {ihe influence of rainfall, but also to try and isolate any ‘thermo-osmotic effects SHommery tinue “seergeonn een Galen lone moisture measurement180 210, ] om | ru = i | | wee a 2 jam) pes PY ad oany 30 THON 8 ‘soe pos PHY uN 7 oe aqads ooy 30 HON "wD ws syed pews 08 om aq | emasere omy oud wea wn MOISTURE CONDITIONS IN PAV! SHLIS NOMVITVESNI LY SHOLOVE OLLVATIO NV S108 3 meL190 In most cases, detailed soil maps enabled the approxi- mate position of the installation site to be selected on a main road. within possible limits of a few hundved Yards. ‘The final clioiee was made on the site, depend- ing on the oad and other local conditions. | Where suitable soil maps were unavailable, the selection was MOISTURE IN SOILS BENHATIC COVERED AREAS made with the assistance of officers of the Soil Survey Section of the Division of Soils, C.S.LR.O. ‘The sites selected are mapped in figure 5 ond are listed in table 2. Detailed deseriptions of each site are given in Part 3 of this series. Acknowledgments ‘Throughout this programme of phases of site sclection, considerable assistance was obtained fr Division of Soils, C.S.LR.0., and from of 's made of the contributions of these officers. ities. Grateful acknowledgment investigation, and particularly in. the initial in officers of the evs of the various State Road At References Aitchison, C.D. (1951). ‘Changes of soil moistare tension in a cl Sealed rondway surface Div. Rep. 1/31, DWv. Soils, CS.LR: Aitchison, C.D. and Prescot, J. A. (1953 Soils agriculture and the engineer. " insin Ears Aust, 36, 1-12, Gaolethan, JD. aa Ceoney, D. “he emai of the vertical mo Hid Res. Lab, N)1709)DC.D lished), Gena, J. (1948). Two chimalic systems applied to Australia, ‘ust. Jel, Hh, (1), 1d Jennings, J.E- (1950) vHaltions for buildings in the Orange Free State gollfilds subgrade beneath a Adelaide ) lire distribution with depth » DSLR, UK. (Unpub. "8. fre natn Engrs, 49. Prescott J. A. (1949). i dithaie index for the leaching factor in soils. J. Soil Set, 1, 9-19. Stace, H. ©. 7. (1961), ‘The morphological und chemical characteristics of ms Ties jnofles of the Great Soll Groupe of ‘Australia, Div. Soils, CSIRO, Adcatde, stephens, G7 G. (1950) Mtl of Australien Sols, CS.R.O., Melbourne stephens, C6. (1061) Pre Sa Loicape of Aural, CS.LRO. Soll Publ. No. 18 Melbourne ‘Thorathvweaite, C. W. (1948), ‘Re gopraech fgvart «rational clasfeation of climate (Geol. Ree. 38, 55.