Fatigue Life Analysis of Rigid Pavement Structure With Pervious Concrete Base Layer Using 2d Finite Element Method

Abstract

In Indonesia, most of the rigid pavement generally use to carry heavy traffic. The combination of trapped infiltration water and repeated traffic loading will generate void between the base layer surface and surface layer base (erosion). Erosion phenomenon could lead to the loss of foundation support, short-term service life issue. Base layer with drainage type like pervious concrete could be useful to tackle those problems. KENSLABS program which is based on the finite element method has been widely used to analyze the pavement response. Some advanced parameters are varied in the simulation to analyze their impact against fatigue life through the mechanistic approach. It was found that the thickness ratio between the surface layer and the base layer can influence the rigid pavement fatigue life. The slab thickness should also be limited when pervious concrete is used as a base layer with an unbonded condition. Pervious concrete with the bonded interface has a longer fatigue life than lean concrete with the bonded interface. The difference among the advanced property values from base layer material and the thickness ratio between the surface layer and the base layer plays an important role in fatigue life value as well. Either in unbonded condition or in bonded condition, fixed base layer with a minimum thickness is more recommended when pervious concrete is used as a base layer because it requires thinner total slab thickness. In sum, pervious concrete could be recommended as an alternative base layer to replace lean concrete.

Microscopic Factors Affecting the Performance of Pervious Concrete

“…At present, the research on pervious concrete mainly involves the improvement of its properties by changing the aggregate particle size/gradation, water-cement ratio/ash-bone ratio, target porosity, and external materials. These include studies of the design of the mix ratio [2][3][4][5], the influence of the aggregate particle size [6][7][8][9][10] and type [11,12] on the performance and porosity [13][14][15][16], the relationship between permeability and the mechanical properties of pervious concrete [17,18], and fatigue performance [19][20][21][22]. However, most scholars have not extensively investigated the fine-scale parameters of pervious concrete to analyze its pore structure characteristics, except through electron microscopy [23], computed tomography scanning reconstruction [24], and the piezomercury method [25].…”