In order to maintain the thermal stability of very wide highway embankments in permafrost regions, the thermal isolation material EPS is often utilized. To examine the effects of this insulation on the China National ...In order to maintain the thermal stability of very wide highway embankments in permafrost regions, the thermal isolation material EPS is often utilized. To examine the effects of this insulation on the China National Highway （G214）, two-dimensional finite element analysis of temperature fields was conducted for varying widths of highway embankments with and without EPS insulation. The numerical results show that in permafrost regions the effect of thermal aggregation on asphalt pavement is more obvious when highway embankments are wider, and, specifically for the G214 highway, the insu- lation should be more than 25 cm thick for 24-m-wide embankments. However, considering other factors such as the struc tural rationality of the embankments and high engineering costs, it might not be feasible to install EPS insulation in 24-m-wide embankments of the G214 highway when the height of the embankments is less than 3.65 m.展开更多
基金the support provided by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2011JBZ009)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41271072 and No. 41171064)the Open Fund of the Qinghai Research Institute of Transportation (No. 20121208)
文摘In order to maintain the thermal stability of very wide highway embankments in permafrost regions, the thermal isolation material EPS is often utilized. To examine the effects of this insulation on the China National Highway （G214）, two-dimensional finite element analysis of temperature fields was conducted for varying widths of highway embankments with and without EPS insulation. The numerical results show that in permafrost regions the effect of thermal aggregation on asphalt pavement is more obvious when highway embankments are wider, and, specifically for the G214 highway, the insu- lation should be more than 25 cm thick for 24-m-wide embankments. However, considering other factors such as the struc tural rationality of the embankments and high engineering costs, it might not be feasible to install EPS insulation in 24-m-wide embankments of the G214 highway when the height of the embankments is less than 3.65 m.
