Niki D. Beskou

FINITE ELEMENT ELASTIC ANALYSIS OF 3-D FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS UNDER MOVING LOADS

The dynamic response of flexible road pavements to moving vehicles is numerically obtained by the time domain finite element method under three-dimensional conditions. The pavement is modeled as a layered finite rectangular domain. The material behavior of the layers is assumed to be inelastic: viscoelastic or viscoplastic for the top asphalt layer and elastic or elastoplastic of the von Mises and the Prager-Drucker type, respectively, for the other layers. The moving with constant speed loads (wheels) of the vehicle are simulated by assigning time dependent load values at all the surface nodes along the vehicle path, which are activated at the time it takes for every load to travel the distance from the origin to every node’s location. Distributed moving loads are considered. Simple supports on rollers for the bottom and lateral boundaries of the pavement domain are assumed. Comparisons with corresponding elastic solutions are made in order to assess the inelastic material behavior on the response of the pavement.