THE APPLICATION OF SEMI-ANALYTICAL FINITE ELEMENT METHOD TO ANALYZE ASPHALT PAVEMENT RESPONSE UNDER HEAVY TRAFFIC LOADS

摘要

Accurate assessment of the impact of heavy traffic loads on asphalt pavements requires acomputational model which is able to calculate the response of the pavement fast andprecisely. A specific computational program SAFEM was developed based on a semianalyticalfinite element method for this objective. It is a three-dimensional FE programthat requires only a two-dimensional mesh by incorporating the semi-analytical methodusing Fourier series in the third dimension. The computational accuracy and efficiency ofthe program was verified by comparing its results with those obtained from the generalcommercial finite element program ABAQUS and the data derived from fieldmeasurements. Using the verified program SAFEM, the impact of heavy traffic loads wasanalysed in terms of stress distribution, surface deflection and fatigue life. The resultsindicate that the SAFEM-program is an efficient and fast tool that is capable of accuratelypredicting the structural response of pavements to traffic loads.