Abstract
The various damages of asphalt pavement are closely related to the mesomechanical gradual behavior of asphalt materials, and it is very important to study the mesoscopic response under vibration loading in order to reveal the failure mechanism of asphalt pavement. The semisinusoidal vertical load is applied to the subgrade‐surface discrete element model in this paper, and we use the model to analyze the evolution behavior of microcrack generation and expansion processes, stress distribution and stress transfer, and displacement field in various structural layers of asphalt pavement. The results show that the number of cracks increases rapidly on both sides of the vibration load, the rut is generated due to repeated load on the wheel, the asphalt mixture has bulging phenomenon on both sides of the rut and formed macroscopic cracks at the ridge, the microcracks extend mainly along the weak joints of the edges of the coarse aggregate and the asphalt cement, the number of microcracks increases slowly at the initial stage of the vibration load, the microcracks increase sharply until macroscopic cracks appear with the vibration load increases, the direction of compressive stress extends parallel to the microcrack, and the direction of tensile stress extends perpendicular to the microcracks inside the asphalt pavement. The results show that the discrete element method can not only obtain the stress and displacement of each structural layer, but also reveal the microcrack gradual behavior between particle flows.
Highlights
Asphalt pavement is generally composed of an asphalt layer, a cement stabilized layer, and a road base layer; the asphalt layer is mainly composed of asphalt, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, and mineral powder; the cement stabilizing layer is composed of coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, and cement; the roadbed is mainly composed of earth and stone [1]. erefore, the overall pavement structure is a heterogeneous and noncontinuous body, the stress-strain is discontinuous, and the deformation is very complicated in the pavement structure under the load of the vehicle; if continuous medium mechanics is used to analyze the internal structural stress of the pavement, the actual deformation and stress state cannot be truly reflected inside the pavement structure [2, 3]
Some scholars and experts have made research and exploration at home and abroad; for example, Kim et al [13, 14] took a series of deformation pictures of asphalt mixture in different time periods through CT scanning technology and established the finite element model by using mesomechanics and fracture mechanics theory to analyze the mechanism of macrocrack generation of specimens
Eckwright et al [15] established the AC-16 uniaxial compression model of asphalt mixture by FISH language and analyzed the regularity of particle flow stress-strain, contact force, particle displacement, contact pressure, and tensile force. It can be understood from the above that most of the research on the mesomechanical behavior of asphalt pavement is concentrated on the test of small-scale asphalt layer test pieces and analyzes the mesomechanical constitutive relation and mechanical behavior of small-scale asphalt mixture specimens under static load [16,17,18]; it is still rare to analyze the mesoscopic response and microcrack grading behavior for large-scale specimens and involving vibration load in the existing literature
Summary
Asphalt pavement is generally composed of an asphalt layer, a cement stabilized layer, and a road base layer; the asphalt layer is mainly composed of asphalt, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, and mineral powder; the cement stabilizing layer is composed of coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, and cement; the roadbed is mainly composed of earth and stone [1]. erefore, the overall pavement structure is a heterogeneous and noncontinuous body, the stress-strain is discontinuous, and the deformation is very complicated in the pavement structure under the load of the vehicle; if continuous medium mechanics is used to analyze the internal structural stress of the pavement, the actual deformation and stress state cannot be truly reflected inside the pavement structure [2, 3]. Eckwright et al [15] established the AC-16 uniaxial compression model of asphalt mixture by FISH language and analyzed the regularity of particle flow stress-strain, contact force, particle displacement, contact pressure, and tensile force At present, it can be understood from the above that most of the research on the mesomechanical behavior of asphalt pavement is concentrated on the test of small-scale asphalt layer test pieces and analyzes the mesomechanical constitutive relation and mechanical behavior of small-scale asphalt mixture specimens under static load [16,17,18]; it is still rare to analyze the mesoscopic response and microcrack grading behavior for large-scale specimens (pavement overall structure layer) and involving vibration load in the existing literature
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
