Abstract
The effect of moisture is fundamental in determining pavement responses. It becomes more important in tropical regions where high precipitation rates and high variability in water table levels are present. The results indicate that when comparing the quantitative performance of pavement sections that are subjected to near saturation conditions, the bearing capacity of the pavement structure can be as low as 5 % of that associated to the same structure but with optimum water content. The damage in the saturated pavement sections is greatly accelerated because of pumping of fines from the subgrade and the subbase. All the pavement layers are affected by loading (decrease or increase in layer moduli) but to a different degree depending on the moisture conditions. Furthermore, the effect of moisture is greater in the cohesive soils and contaminated granular materials. Finally, the relatively stiffer layers (i.e., hot mix asphalt and cement-treated base layers) are the ones that are more susceptible to a higher deterioration rate, particularly under saturated or near saturated conditions.