The use of insulating layers has become one of the strategies to alleviate and/or prevent the problem of frost-heaving during winter and weakening of thawing during spring . Surface heave alters the road profile and can adversely affect the ride quality of the road, especially if the heave is differential and uneven. Weakening spring thaw may result in Spring Load Limiting (SLR) being imposed on low-volume roads. The resulting weak subgrade support during the thaw season results in higher deflections that cause fatigue buildup in the pavement and lead to several types of cracks and deterioration, including alligator cracking. If the insulating layer provides adequate bearing capacity of the pavement and does not create an unfavorable humidity regime in the system, its use will reduce the depth of penetration of frost into the pavement structure. This can allow design engineers to moderate base/subgrade layer thicknesses and, therefore, limit aggregate natural resource depletion and move toward more economical and sustainable design strategies. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Traditionally, polystyrene has been used as an insulating material. In recent years, in line with other sectors of society, there has been a growing trend in the flooring community to use more sustainable and environmentally friendly practices and materials. As a result, road agencies in cold regions are urged to use waste and recycled materials as a cost-effective insulation layer in a continuous process of trial and error. Because there are some difficulties associated with predicting reliable thermal patterns in pavement structures, as well as concerns regarding the long-term structural performance of these materials, field trials have been initiated. Bottom ash, a waste material produced by the incineration of coal in power plants, has recently been presented as an option for the construction of road embankments. The amount of insulation required will depend on the type of flooring structure, the thermal properties of the different flooring layers and the climate. Consequently, the change of thermal regime in the pavement structure caused by the insulating materials should be studied using appropriate modeling software to provide an accurate and reliable estimate of the required thickness of the insulating material to avoid the problems mentioned above. Thermal modeling of insulated and uninsulated roadways was performed by the Alaska Department of Transportation (AK DOT) using an MS-DOS computer program, MUT1D (1-Dimensional Multilayer Intuitive Thermal Model). Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay The software applied one-dimensional implicit finite difference techniques to estimate the thermal regime of a multilayer model. Although the MUT1D model provides results with acceptable accuracy, it is limited to producing the depth of phase change along a single analysis line. The limitation of the previous software leads the designer to use TEMP/W (which is one of the modules of the Geostudio 2012 software, GeoSlope International, Calgary, Alberta). This two-dimensional (2-D) finite element program provides heat flow analysis for an entire cross section and, because it uses 2-D boundary effects, is more reliable than a model.