Numerical Simulation of the Effect of Repeated Load and Temperature on the Behavior of Asphalt Layers

Abstract

Roads and highways are used by different vehicle types, and the heavy vehicles among them can be considered the most critical in loading, which causes failure in the pavement structure and increases rehabilitation and maintenance costs. In this study, the composite effects for wheel loads and temperature were considered in the finite element analysis using Abaqus 6.14. The asphalt layer was modeled as an elastic material, while the base and subbase layers were modeled as an elastoplastic material following the Mohr-Coulomb model. Also, the impact of wheel loads on flexible pavement settlement and the main output of analyzing pavement structure are almost represented by the vertical stresses and the surface deformation, which are considered the critical response point. A single unit truck was tried with two thicknesses of the asphalt layer, 14 cm, and 25 cm, with two different temperatures. Since base and subbase layer thicknesses remained constant, it does not affect the displacement variation. However, it was found that the increase of asphalt layer thickness from 0.14 m to 0.25 m leads to a decrease in the vertical displacement of about 0.59% and becomes 0.77% when the temperature increases to 50℃.