Numerical simulation of vehicle movement on rigid roadway pavement with discontinuities

Abstract

A numerical simulation of a moving vehicle on the rigid roadway pavement with discontinuities is presented in this paper by using the data from one of the toll road segments in Indonesia. The analysis procedure considers the dynamic interaction between the vehicle and the rigid pavement. The rigid roadway pavement is modeled using the Kirchhoff theory of thin slab on elastic foundations. The aim of the numerical analysis is to obtain the vertical deflection in the middle of the slab, to obtain the time history of the slab deflection; and to identify the parameters of the sub-grade that has a significant effect on the dynamic response of the rigid roadway pavement. The equations of motion are derived in the form of partial differential equations of the fourth order. The mode shapes of the slab deflection are determined from the method of first and the second auxiliary equations of Levy-type in the x- and y-directions, which is also known as the Modified Bolotin Method (MBM). The equations of motion are solved numerically by using Mathematica. The influence of various parameters including the peak vertical velocity due to the moving vehicle, the stiffness of subgrade, the slab thickness and the road profile to the dynamic behavior of the rigid roadway pavement are studied in detail. The results obtained from the plate computing model in this paper are then compared and analyzed with the results computed using the finite element method by Strand 7 to show that the solution obtained using the MBM method is accurate. In addition, the paper aims to show that the thickness of the plate plays a significant role in the distribution of the bending stresses in plate discontinuities and is necessary for engineers to design rigid roadway pavements.