Finite element analysis of road structure containing top-down crack within asphalt concrete layer

Abstract

In this paper, a four-layered road structure containing a top-down crack is investigated by performing finite element analyses in ABAQUS. In this study, in addition to the vertical load of a vehicle wheel, the horizontal load as well as its position with respect to the crack is also considered in the analyses, and the crack tip parameters including stress intensity factors (SIFs) and T-stress are then calculated. Moreover, influence of elastic modulus and thickness of the pavement layers on the crack tip parameters is studied. Results show that the horizontal and vertical loads along with their position with respect to the crack, elastic modulus and thickness of the road layers influence the crack tip parameters (K_I, K_II and T-stress) significantly. It was also found that for the cases that the vehicle wheel is positioned near the crack plane, only the shear deformation mode is observed at the crack tip; while, for the vehicle wheel positions far from the crack, only the opening mode is observed, and between these positions, both the opening and shear deformation modes (i.e., mixed mode I/II) are observed at the crack tip.

Keywords

asphalt concrete / top-down crack / stress intensity factors / T-stress / horizontal load / vertical load

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