Improved Modeling for ACE and Ventilated Shoulder Design

Embankment deformation that results from thawing permafrost foundation soils often results in safety and drivability problems, and in extreme cases can result in structural embankment failure. Regular maintenance (often on an annual or bi-annual basis) is then needed to avoid safety and drivability problems. Air convection embankments (ACE) and ventilated shoulder systems can reduce or eliminate thaw settlement and related maintenance problems, but they are expensive to construct. Improved modeling and design tools would allow better “tuning” of these systems leading to improved thermal performance and reduced costs. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (AKDOT) is currently using the Geoslope suite of modeling tools to analyze heat transfer in highway embankment designs, including ACE and ventilated shoulder installations. However, the existing Geoslope models are not capable of including the complex boundary conditions that arise when ambient air is drawn into and out of these roadway features, thus limiting the amount of detailed design that can be accomplished. The potential economic benefits generated by the proposed work will result from AKDOT design engineers being better able to predict the cooling behavior of ACE and ventilated shoulder layers. Currently these features are used sparingly due to the high cost of the required rock fill materials, even though they have proven effective at cooling foundation soils and maintaining the structural integrity of the supporting permafrost. Costs could be reduced significantly through the utilization of better modeling and design tools that would allow designers to reduce the required rockfill volumes without sacrificing the necessary amount of convective cooling capacity.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $85,080.00
• Contract Numbers:

  HFHWY00400

  4000(238)

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities

  Research & Technology Transfer
  2301 Peger Road
  Fairbanks, AK  United States  99709-5399
• Project Managers:

  DeMattio, Cristina

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Alaska Fairbanks

  College of Engineering & Mines
  P.O. Box 755960
  Fairbanks, AK  United States  99775-5960
• Principal Investigators:

  Goering, Douglas

• Start Date: 20240430
• Expected Completion Date: 20251231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cooling; Embankments; Heat transfer; Permafrost; Predictive models; Road shoulders; Rockfills
• Geographic Terms: Alaska
• Subject Areas: Design; Geotechnology; Highways; Materials; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01947036
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities
• Contract Numbers: HFHWY00400, 4000(238)
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Feb 21 2025 10:19PM