Algunas patologías de pavimentos flexibles sobre suelos arcillosos fisurados

Abstract

Desiccation is a phenomenon which implies a continuous loss of moisture in clayey soils located above the water table. This is caused by many factors such as the presence of foreign plant species, whose roots induce the loss of free water from the mineral skeleton of the materials, the reduction of groundwater level which causes the lowering of free water caused by wells, and the presence of higher evaporation rates than precipitation at a given area. The desiccation process induces loss of moisture in clay soils that causes stress states inducing cracking conditions and loss of continuity in the soil mass, resulting heterogeneous amorphous soil columns bounded by the vertical cracks caused by the increase in matric suction of the materials. Roads and generally lightweight structures which foundation systems are on the dessicated-cracked materials have a high probability of damage during their lifetime with the consequent reduction of its functionality. Specifically in the case of roads, intolerable deformations on the structural layers make up the pavement structure, dramatically diminishing their level of service