Characterization and use of tropical gravels for pavement construction in West Africa

1991

English

Road transportation is increasingly becoming one of the key factors for promoting economic growth in most developing countries. However, transport and road research in the tropics has received relatively little attention. Experiences in road construction in the tropics within the past 50 years or so have established that local materials specifications and pavement construction technologies have to be developed in relation to the climatic conditions. This would involve knowledge of the processes of formation as well as genetic characteristics of the local gravels. Genetic characteristics exert considerable influence on the geotechnical properties and engineering behaviour of local gravels under pavement. The construction technology of the road pavement should take cognizance of the compositional variabilities of the gravel deposits. Construction studies of pavement sections (as well as assessment of the performance of existing roads) built with different gravels formed over different geological formations in specific climatic, and drainage conditions would provide useful data for evolving local gravel specifications for constructing stable and durable pavements. Stage construction of pavements involving the exposure of the various layers to traffic loading and seasonal climatic influences appears to hold promise for formulating strategies for constructing stable, and long-term durable tropical roads. The problem of achieving reproducible laboratory test data under field conditions is perhaps the most challenging aspect of utilizing local gravels for pavement construction in tropical and sub-tropical conditions. It is noted that the stability of pavements in tropical environments depends not so much on the geotechnical properties of the available gravels as on the appreciation by the designers and construction engineers of the relationship between the genetic and laboratory determined characteristics of the gravels on the one hand and the pavement construction technology and local climatic and drainage conditions on the other. This paper is a contribution to development of highway geotechnics for tropical and sub-tropical conditions.

Gidigasu, M. D.