Abstract
Pavement failures like cracking and rising, caused by the growth of plant roots are often observed in asphaltic pavement around roadside trees. To avoid trouble, the resistance of pavements to root growth should be estimated using a suitable test before installation. The aim of this study is to develop a test method for evaluating pavements’ resistance to the thickening of roots as they grow. The method uses a simulated root developed to mimic the mechanical power of a growing root for evaluating the performance of pavements more easily and quickly.
First, we measured the force exerted by a growing root using a cherry tree over a period of four months from April to July. The enlargement force reached approximately 440 N/cm. Next, we developed an apparatus to reproduce the thickening growth of the root based on the earlier measurement. The test was carried out using an asphaltic pavement consisting of a 30 mm thick asphalt layer placed over various thicknesses of sand beds.
Cracking was observed during the test, and it was found that increasing the thickness of the sand bed reduced the damage to asphaltic pavement. The simulated root was useful for evaluating pavements’ root resistance. Finally, we confirmed the appropriateness of this test by comparing its results with a numerical model.
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© 2012 RILEM 2012
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Ishihara, S., Tanaka, K., Shinohara, Y. (2012). Evaluating Root Resistance of Asphaltic Pavement Focusing on Woody Plants’ Root Growth. In: Scarpas, A., Kringos, N., Al-Qadi, I., A., L. (eds) 7th RILEM International Conference on Cracking in Pavements. RILEM Bookseries, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4566-7_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4566-7_31
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4565-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4566-7
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