Dynamic Analysis of Asphalt Concrete Pavement Structure

A new solution for the dynamic analysis of as asphalt concrete pavements under moving loads has been developed. The asphalt concrete pavement can be modeled in elastic or viscoelastic medium of multi-layered structure. The subgrade can be modeled as either a rigid base or a semi-infinite halfspace. The loads may be constant or arbitrary circular loads into one direction. The method utilizes the Complex Response Method of transient analysis with a continuum solution in the horizontal direction and a finite-element solution in the vertical direction. This proposed method incorporates such important factors as wave propagation, inertia and damping effects of the medium as well as frequency-dependent asphalt concrete properties. The proposed method has been validted with the full-scale field truck test, which was conducted on instrumented asphalt concrete section on a test track at PACCAR Technical Center in Mount Vernon, Washington. Comparison with field strain data from full-scale pavement tests has shown excellent agreement. Theoretical results have shown that the effect of vehicle speed is significant and that it is in part due to the frequency-dependent