摘要：

Evaluation of the resilient modulus of granular material as used in design and structural evaluation of flexible pavements is addressed. It is shown that the well-known equation relating the modulus to the sum of principal stresses does not properly describe granular material behavior: the predicted response is not compatible with laboratory test results that show a strong dependence of the modulus on the stress ratio from which the equation is derived. A general law that includes the effect of shear strains is shown to be in good agreement with test results. The response of nonlinear materials is sensitive to their state of stress during loading. A proposed theory based on limit equilibrium is reported to give good estimates of residual stresses. It is found that granular base and subbase materials, compacted with heavy rollers, may develop relatively high residual horizontal stresses.

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