An analytical procedure for strain response prediction of flexible pavement

Abstract

The bottom-up fatigue damage in flexible pavements is typically assessed through the tensile strains at the bottom of the asphalt layer. The fatigue damage is then correlated using a calibration factor to the fatigue cracking. Therefore, the success of any pavement design depends on the accuracy and efficiency of employed mechanistic parameters, such as stress and strain. A procedure that can accurately and rapidly predict pavement strain response when traffic and environmental data are provided is desirable. In this study, an analytical procedure was developed to predict pavement response using a mixed pool of tensile strains from instrumentation and 3D FE simulation. Statistical features make the developed procedure powerful and efficient such that the strain responses due to every individual axle pass can be predicted. A demonstration example of predicting tensile strains under multiple-axle loading conditions is provided to facilitate application of the procedure to other data-sets. The maximum difference of 9 microstrain in response implies a reasonable accuracy of the analytical procedure. As demonstrated by using a full-depth flexible pavement section, the analytical procedure is effective and of immediate assistance to experimentally compare design alternatives.

A Study on the Design Depth of Permeable Road Pavement through Dynamic Load Experiment

“…In addition, the increase in truck speed caused a vertical strain at the 3 cm pavement depth that was greater than that with the 8 cm pavement depth. The results show that increasing the speed has more influence on the vertical strain of the 3 cm pavement depth, as presented in the previous research [9].…”

“…Many researchers have investigated pavements' mechanical responses with several methods, such as field tests [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14], theoretical analysis [15][16][17], and finite-element method simulations [4,9,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Firstly, some research has studied the pavement responses through field testing.…”

“…Generally, the tensile strains of the asphalt surface, measured by strain transducers in the pavement, were used to evaluate the bottom-up fatigue damage [9,28]. In the laboratory, the tensile and compressive strains of the pavement under loading pulses were also often used to determine the fatigue strength [18].…”

Development of Full-Scale Reflective Cracking Test at the FAA National Airport Pavement Test Facility

“…A linear viscoelastic material is a rheological material that is characterized with unit response functions, such as the relaxation modulus, E(t), in the time domain, and the complex modulus, E*, in the frequency domain. In this study, a numerical method was used to obtain the relaxation modulus indirectly from the frequency-dependent test (complex modulus test), as adopted by Yin and others (10)(11)(12). A detailed interconversion procedure was covered by Schapery and Park (13).…”

Instrumentation of Field-Testing Sites for Dynamic Characterization of the Temperature-Dependent Stiffness of Pavements and Their Layers

“…A variety of strain gauges, pressure cells, defection, and temperature sensors were installed into fexible pavement, and recommendations were given regarding their selection and use [45]. Te readings of embedded strain gauges and pressure cells were compared with back-calculated stresses [46][47][48] and strains [49][50][51]. Optical fber-based sensors were embedded for pavement health monitoring and damage detection [52].…”