Response Analysis of Asphalt Pavement under Dynamic Loadings: Loading Equivalence

Abstract

This paper establishes the equivalent relationships between the half-sinusoidal load, triangular load, vertical stepwise load, and moving traffic load. The governing equation was established for analyzing the dynamic responses of pavement, and half-sinusoidal load, triangular load, and vertical stepwise load functions were transformed into Fourier series expressions. The partial differential governing equations were simplified as ordinary differential equations and the analytical solutions were obtained. Further, the solutions were validated through comparing the theoretical results with numerical simulated results. Calculation results revealed that, for unchanged load periods, increasing the amplitudes of the three loads by 1.06, 1.31, and 1.35 times can better simulate the moving traffic loads. For unchanged load function amplitudes, increasing the function periods by 1.07, 2.23, and 2.1 times (for half-sinusoidal, triangular, and vertical stepwise loads, resp.) can improve the simulation performance. The fatigue life of asphalt pavements under the moving traffic load agrees with that of the three load simulations, indicating that the fatigue life of asphalt pavements is only associated with the load amplitude but not the load patterns.

A 3D-FE Model for the Rutting Prediction in Geogrid Reinforced Flexible Pavements

“…The stress is at its maximum when the load was directly above the contact point between road and infrastructure, and at its minimum when the wheel load is at the furthest distance from that contact point. It can be assumed that the stress wave is either sinusoidal or triangular, with the load duration depending on the speed and the depth [38][39][40][41]. There is no significant difference in the magnitude of the total and the resilient strains, and between the triangular and sinusoidal stress wave [33].…”

Finite Element Analysis of Geogrid-Stabilized Unpaved Roads

“…To simulate heavy vehicular traffic, a cyclic load of triangular type [21][22][23][24], with an amplitude equal to 40 kN (resulting in a pavement pressure of 550 kPa) and number of cyclic repetitions (Ncycles) equal to 2000, was applied over a rectangular area (Figure 4b). Within each cycle, the load was applied with a duration time of 0.01 sec in order to simulate vehicle speed.…”

A data fusion approach for estimating traffic distribution characteristics of expressway: A case study of guangdong province, china

“…In 2004, the mechanistic-empirical (M-E) design method was introduced by replacing the equivalent number of axle loading times with the axle load spectrum to characterize traffic loading for the pavement structure design in the United States, and a new road mechanics empirical design method based on the axle load spectrum was developed (AASHTO, 2020). The mixed traffic bearing capacity of the road was converted into the equivalent standard axle loads (ESALs) in current pavement structure design method in China (Wang et al, 2007;Wang and Zhang, 2016;Gao et al, 2019).…”