Abstract
Turkey built its first highway truck escape ramp (TER) on the Turkish Trans-European Motorway (TEM) in 2012 and three more on the same highway in the following 2 years. The geotechnical properties of the aggregates used in these escape ramps were investigated, and the results were evaluated with respect to the compiled suggested criteria, since there are no internationally recognized and/or standardized criteria yet. Also, using 204 entries, performance of the aggregates, in turn, the ramps were analyzed with respect to entry speed versus both stopping distance and rolling resistance, and rolling resistance versus stopping distance along with total weight versus both rolling resistance and stopping distance, and also, available performance models in the literature were tested. The results show that the aggregates are made up of rounded-subrounded grains with no organic content and classified as GP, the bulk unit weight is 2.36 g/cm3, slake durability index is 99.46%, water absorption is 1.55%, Los Angeles abrasion lost is 20.40%, freeze-thaw lost is 7.4%, and alkali-silica reactivity is harmless. There is a good correlation between the entry speeds, stopping distances (or the required or design TER lengths), and rolling resistances, a weak relationship between the total weights and rolling resistances, but no meaningful correlation between the stopping distances and total weights. The higher the entry speeds, the higher the stopping distances, therefore, the required TER lengths, and the higher the rolling resistances, the shorter the stopping distances. The design lengths and, therefore, the aggregates of the ramps have performed well with some exceptions.
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Data Availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- AASHTO:
-
American Administration for State Highway Officials
- ADOT:
-
Arizona Department of Transportation
- ASTM:
-
American Society of Testing Materials
- BS:
-
British Standards
- Cc :
-
Coefficient of curvature
- Cu :
-
Uniformity coefficient
- CP:
-
Colorado Procedure
- DIN:
-
European Standards
- DL:
-
Design length
- DS:
-
Design speed
- Id2 :
-
Slake durability index
- KGET:
-
Kern Golden Empire Television
- KGM:
-
General Directorate of Highways (Turkish acronym)
- LYTAG:
-
Lightweight aggregate
- MOHS:
-
Friedrich Mohs Mineral Hardness Scale
- MTO:
-
Ministry of Transportation, Ontario
- MIT:
-
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- OPSS:
-
Ontario Provincial Standard and Specification
- PennDOT:
-
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
- Rc:
-
Reduction in alkalinity
- Sc:
-
Dissolved silica
- S :
-
Sphericity
- TEM:
-
Turkish Trans-European Motorway
- TER:
-
Truck escape ramp
- USBR:
-
United States Bureau of Reclamation
- USCS:
-
Unified soil classification system
- WSDOT:
-
Washington State Department of Transportation
- XRF:
-
X-ray fluorescence
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Acknowledgements
Some of the geotechnical properties tests in this study were performed to partially fulfill the requirements for the first author’s M.S. degree in civil engineering at Toros University. She thanks the Committee Chairman, Prof. Dr. Mehmet Çakıroğlu, and the members of the Thesis Committee, Prof. Dr. Aziz Ertunç, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Volkan Emre Uz for their constructive advice and guidance. The tests and some analysis were carried out in the soil and rock mechanics laboratories of the Civil, Geological and Mining Engineering Departments at the Toros and Çukurova Universities in Mersin and Adana, Turkey, and the 5th Regional Directorate of Mersin Highways. I thank Dr. Emre Pınarcı, Mustafa Belen and Abdulkadir Ürünveren for their assistance in performing the tests. The authors thank both the anonymous reviewer and the Editor for their critical and valuable comments which improved the manuscript considerably.
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Both authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Hatice Merve Annagür and Mustafa Yasin Çetin. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Hatice Merve Annagür, and both authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Annagür, H.M., Çetin, M.Y. Performance and Geotechnical Properties of the Aggregates Used for the Turkish Trans-European Motorway Truck Escape Ramps. Transp. Infrastruct. Geotech. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40515-023-00333-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40515-023-00333-y