Lifecycle Simulation for Unbonded Concrete Overlay Design
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 144, Issue 1
Abstract
An unbonded concrete overlay (UBCO) is an increasingly popular technique for pavement rehabilitation. Its current thickness design is based on empirical equations or highly simplified mechanistic models. This paper conducts a lifecycle simulation study for UBCO for the first time. Its sophisticated three-dimensional finite-element model is created and the fatigue reflection crack initiation and propagation under the cyclic traffic loading are simulated. The fatigue parameters are calibrated and corrected according to the size effect law. The simulation results reveal the three-dimensional cracking mechanism of the UBCO and show that increasing the overlay thickness is the most efficient way to improve the fatigue life. The present study offers a practical approach for evaluation of the UBCO’s fatigue life and thus sheds light on a next-generation fatigue life–based design procedure for the UBCO.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The present work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11402040) and the Frontier and Application Basic Research Program of Chongqing Science and Technology Commission (Grant No. cstc2014jcyjA30002).
References
AASHTO. (1993). AASHTO guide for design of pavement structures, Washington, DC.
Abaqus [Computer software]. Dassault Systèmes Simulia Corp., Providence, RI.
Bazant, Z. P., and Kazemi, M. T. (1990). “Determination of fracture energy, process zone length and brittleness number from size effect, with application to rock and concrete.” Int. J. Fract., 44(2), 111–131.
Bazant, Z. P., and Planas, J. (1997). Fracture and size effect in concrete and other quasibrittle materials, CRC Press, New York.
Bazant, Z. P., and Schell, W. F. (1993). “Fatigue fracture of high-strength concrete and size effect.” ACI Mater. J., 90(5), 472–478.
Bazant, Z. P., and Xu, K. (1991). “Size effect in fatigue fracture of concrete.” ACI Mater. J., 88(4), 390–399.
Belytschko, T., and Black, T. (1999). “Elastic crack growth in finite elements with minimal remeshing.” Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., 45(5), 601–620.
Biner, S. B. (2001). “Fatigue crack growth studies under mixed-mode loading.” Int. J. Fract., 23(S1), 259–263.
ERES Consultants Division, ARA, Inc. (2004). “Guide for mechanistic-empirical design of new and rehabilitated pavement structures.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
ERES Consultants, Inc. (1999). “Evaluation of unbonded portland cement concrete overlays.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Ha, K., Baek, H., and Park, K. (2015). “Convergence of fracture process zone size in cohesive zone modeling.” Appl. Math. Model., 39(19), 5828–5836.
Kirane, K., and Bazant, Z. P. (2016). “Size effect in Paris law and fatigue lifetimes for quasibrittle materials: Modified theory, experiments and micro-modeling.” Int. J. Fatigue, 83(2), 209–220.
Le, J. L., Manning, J., and Labuz, J. F. (2014). “Scaling of fatigue crack growth in rock.” Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 72, 71–79.
Liao, M., and Ballarini, R. (2012). “Toward a fracture mechanics–based design approach for unbonded concrete overlay pavements.” J. Eng. Mech., 1195–1204.
Liu, Y. (2009). “Research on dynamic response and fracture performance of asphalt mixture based on semi-circular bending test.” Ph.D. dissertation, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China.
Miner, M. A. (1945). “Cumulative damage in fatigue.” J. Appl. Mech., 12(3), A-159–A-164.
Moes, N., Dolbow, J., and Belytschko, T. (1999). “A finite element method for crack growth without remeshing.” Int. J. Numer. Methods Eng., 46(1), 131–150.
Paris, P. C., Gomez, M. P., and Anderson, W. E. (1961). “A rational analytic theory of fatigue.” Trend Eng., 13(1), 9–14.
Qian, J., and Fatemi, A. (1996). “Fatigue crack growth under mixed-mode I and II loading.” Fatigue Fract. Eng. Mater. Struct., 19(10), 1277–1284.
Rollings, R. S. (1988). “Design of overlays for rigid airport pavement.”, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington, DC.
Rybicki, E. F., and Kanninen, M. F. (1977). “A finite element calculation of stress intensity factors by a modified crack closure integral.” Eng. Fract. Mech., 9(4), 931–938.
Shivakumar, K. N., Tan, P. W., and Newman, J. C., Jr. (1988). “A virtual crack-closure technique for calculating stress intensity factors for cracked three dimensional bodies.” Int. J. Fract., 36(3), R43–R50.
Tayabji, S. D., and Okamoto, P. A. (1985). “Thickness design of concrete resurfacing.” Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. on Concrete Pavement Design and Rehabilitation, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN, 367–379.
U.S. Department of the Army and U.S. Department of the Air Force. (1970). “Rigid pavements for airfields other than army.”, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC.
Wu, E. M., and Reuter, R. C., Jr. (1965). “Crack extension in fiberglass reinforced plastics.”, Univ. of Illinois, Urbana, IL.
Xu, Y., and Yuan, H. (2009). “Computational analysis of mixed-mode fatigue crack growth in quasi-brittle materials using extended finite element methods.” Eng. Fract. Mech., 76(2), 165–181.
Zegeye, E., Le, J. L., Turos, M., and Marasteanu, M. (2012). “Investigation of size effect in asphalt mixture fracture testing at low temperature.” Road Mater. Pavement Des., 13(S1), 88–101.
Zhang, H., Lepech, M. D., Keoleian, G. A., Qian, S., and Li, V. C. (2010). “Dynamic life-cycle modeling of pavement overlay systems: Capturing the impacts of users, construction, and roadway deterioration.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 299–309.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 144 • Issue 1 • January 2018
Copyright
©2017 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 14, 2016
Accepted: Jun 20, 2017
Published online: Nov 2, 2017
Published in print: Jan 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Apr 2, 2018
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.