Stress concentration in the vicinity of road сoating cracks

Abstract

The article presents the results of a computer analysis of the stress-strain state of a multilayer asphalt pavement under the influence of traffic loads. Based on the finite-element model of coating deformation, a study was made of the mechanical behavior of the system considered for various structural schemes for the existence of vertical cracks in various layers of the structure under the action of vertical transport loads. The effects of stress concentration in the system due to high-gradient deformation fields and structural imperfections of the multilayer coating were found.
 Multi-layer asphalt roads are one of the most common construction projects. Based on a review of the tasks of science about their strength and durability, these structures can be attributed to significantly complex types of building systems. This is primarily due to the multi-parameter nature of the factors that determine their design, material properties, types of loads and the impact on them, as well as their operating conditions. Therefore, designers of road structures and specialists who are involved in the theoretical modeling of the mechanical behavior of layered massifs during operation have to take into account many additional factors that complicate their work. These include the most important design and operational features of these systems, which significantly affect the nature of the distribution of stress and strain fields, as well as their intensity. First of all, they include special structural schemes of the road and pavement. It is a multilayer three-dimensional package having disproportionately different sizes along each direction.
 Hidden (as well as obvious) vertical cracks and horizontal delamination of the structure, sometimes permissible under operating conditions, can be added to the design model of a structure. Such violations of the continuity of the system also lead to discontinuity of the displacement functions, which further worsens the system’s performance and complicates the task of its modeling.
 The materials of the coating layers, which include asphalt concrete, cement, crushed stone, sand, soil, and others, also bring particular specificity to the work of the road structure. All of them differently resist tensile, compression and shear, and asphalt concrete is also elastic-viscous - plastic material, whose properties are largely dependent on temperature.