A method for dynamic response of a multilayered pavement loaded by FWD

Abstract

AbstractThe dynamic response of a viscoelastic multilayered pavement under falling weight deflectometer (FWD) loading is an attractive topic for the pavement engineers. Starting from the governing equations, the Laplace transform is first applied to suppress the time variable. The ordinary differential equations (ODE) of the governing equations in Laplace domain are derived by the cylindrical vector functions systems. On the basis of the facts that the top and bottom boundary conditions dual appear, a novel analytical method called dual variable and dual boundary (DVDB) for the ODE is proposed combined with dual variable and position method (DVP). The final solution in time domain is obtained by the inverse Laplace transform that is accelerated by Epsilon algorithm. The solutions of the thin layer issues and imperfect interface conditions are also investigated. Some numerical results from DVDB for the dynamic response of multilayered pavement loaded by FWD discrete pulse series are compared and discussed. It can be concluded that the DVDB combined with Laplace transform can efficiently solve the dynamic response of multilayered pavement in time domain. Furthermore, it can also be suited for some cases, such as material anisotropy properties, thin layers in the structure and interface conditions.