Analysis of the correlation between the pavement structure combinations and pavement performance using experimental sections

The new generation of pavement technology with the goal of longevity is an important supporting technology that can promote the achievement of sustainable development of high-speed roadways. To further investigate the evolution trend of long-life pavement performance, this paper paved experimental sections to explore the correlations between pavement structure combinations and pavement performances. This paper presented four experimental sections with different pavement structures, asphalt concrete layer thicknesses, and pavement materials. Then, this paper analyzed the effects of the seasonal factors, pavement structure, and lanes on the deflection value and rut depth from three dimensions by the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC). Finally, this paper used the analysis of variance (ANOVA) to analyze the relationships between the layer thickness of various materials in the pavement structure and the pavement performances, including the deflection value, international roughness index (IRI), texture depth (TD), British Pendulum Number (BPN), sideway force coefficient (SFC), rut depth, and disease area. The results showed that the seasonal factors significantly affected the deflection values of pavement structures with PCCs of 0.61, 0.72, 0.53, and 0.78. The high temperatures increased the average deflection values by 22.85%, 72.88%, 77.61%, and 88.13%, respectively. Under the influence of high temperature in summer and traffic loads, the increased ranges of average rut depth were −0.2%, 4.89%, 9.56%, and 7.31%, respectively. The results of ANOVA showed that the pavement structure type and thickness of each structural layer significantly affected the deflection value, and there also was a strong correlation between the pavement structure type, thickness, BPN, and SFC with p-values less than 0.05. Increasing the thickness of the asphalt surface was beneficial for reducing the area of defects, while laying the semi-rigid base layer was beneficial for maintaining the deflection value and rut depth at a lower level.