Influence of Foundation Layer Properties in a Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavement System Subjected to Heavy Vehicle Loads

Abstract

The current design methods of concrete pavements assume that the pavement layers will experience stresses/strains that are within their elastic limits. The increase in industrial traffic has led pavement engineers to increase the thickness of the concrete layer to withstand the heavy loads without considering the impact on the foundation layers resulting, in some cases, in premature failure. This highlights the importance of relying on an analysis tool capable of accurately predicting the responses of each pavement layer to ensure that the design limits are not exceeded. Current rigid pavement analysis tools model the supporting layers as a single bed of spring elements (Winkler foundation), which leads to a design process that primarily focuses on the concrete layer and overlooks the advantages or disadvantages of considering specific material properties for each supporting layer. To overcome this limitation, researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso have incorporated a three-dimensional solid foundation model into a finite element analysis tool called rigid pavement analysis system (RPAS). In this study, a comparison between the Winkler and three-dimensional solid foundation models in RPAS has been carried out to evaluate the effects that heavy vehicle loads may have on the responses of roller-compacted concrete (RCC) pavements. The results show that the supporting layer responses are greatly affected by the heavy vehicle loads and ultimately have a significant impact on the overall RCC pavement performance. Additionally, the results show the benefits of using stabilizing materials to optimize the pavement structure by reducing the thickness of the concrete pavement layer and increasing the stabilized foundation layer thickness.