Effect of wetting and drying on the resilient modulus and permanent strain of a sandy clay by RLTT

Water content is one of the significant factors that affect the stability and stiffness property of the subgrade soils. Under changing environmental conditions such as raining and drought, the water content becomes more variable and is known to facilitate many of the subgrade-related problems such as rutting and swelling. As a result, the compaction moisture and post-compaction moisture changes on the resilient modulus (M-R) and permanent strain (& epsilon;(p)) of a subgrade soil were investigated. The effect of the bulk stress, octahedral shear stress, wetting, and drying was analyzed using test results and has important consequences on the existing and design of new pavements. M-R was higher for soil samples subjected to drying than wetting. Higher M-R did not show lower & epsilon;(p). The correlation between M-R and & epsilon;(p) suggests that M-R was not a satisfactory soil property to explain & epsilon;(p) of the soil in the Ciyaowan station in Bao-shen. Models used to predict the effect of the moisture content, and stress state showed better performance for M-R.