Analysis of Asphalt Pavement Rut Based on Elastic-viscoplastic Theory

Abstract

The elastic-viscoplastic theory was applied to research the permanent deformation of asphalt mixture, and a creep model was adopted for its good agreement with actual result. ABAQUS, the finite element modeling technique, were employed to simulate and investi- gate rut of the asphalt pavements with flexible base, and then the results were validated according to the circular track test. It is indicated that, rut increases fast in the early stage, but slow in later stage; pavement rut consists chiefly of absolute rut, and lateral upheaval only ac- counts for 15% -30% ; deformation rate increases as the depth increases and achieves the largest value at the depth of 8 cm then it de- creases gradually; pavement absolute rut is composed primarily of rut of the layer within the depths of 4 cm and 20 cm, especially within the depths of 4 cm and 12 cm.In addition,pavement ruts were simulated under different loads,and the axle load conversion indices were obtained by the rut equivalent method.For the adopted structures,the index is 5.9.