A STUDY OF THE PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE PERFORMANCE OF ROADS UNDER AN EXTREME RAINFALL EVENT

Sunshine Coast Regional Council has recently upgraded a section of Sippy Downs Drive adjacent to the University of the Sunshine Coast campus. Prior to opening, the pavement was instrumented to monitor strain and moisture in the surface and the subgrade layers and the temperature under the surface layer. At the time of installation, traffic was light, as University classes had not yet commenced. Traffic increased when classes commenced in February 2013 and is projected to grow substantially as a new suburb and two major shopping centres are built over the next three years. Data are recorded every minute and downloaded by mobile phone connection every 24 hours. These data are analysed automatically every day. Six weeks after opening, a major rainfall event occurred with nearly 500mm of rain recorded over three days. The paper discusses the impact on pavement strain as a function of changing moisture content and temperatures. These data have potential for identifying future maintenance requirements.