Nonlinear Pavement Foundation Modeling for Three-Dimensional Finite-Element Analysis of Flexible Pavements
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 9, Issue 5
Abstract
Pavement foundation geomaterials, i.e., fine-grained subgrade soils and unbound aggregates used in untreated base/subbase layers, exhibit nonlinear behavior under repeated wheel loads. This nonlinear behavior is commonly characterized by stress-dependent resilient modulus material models that need to be incorporated into finite element (FE) based mechanistic pavement analysis methods to predict more accurately the pavement resilient responses, such as stress, strain, and deformation. Many general-purpose FE programs have been used to predict such pavement responses under various traffic loading conditions while not considering properly material characterizations of the unbound aggregate base/subbase and subgrade soil layers. This paper describes the recent pavement FE modeling research efforts at the University of Illinois focused on using both the specific-purpose axisymmetric and general-purpose three-dimensional (3D) FE programs for flexible pavement analyses. To properly characterize the resilient behavior of pavement foundations, nonlinear stress-dependent modulus models have been programmed in a user material subroutine (UMAT) in the commercial general-purpose finite-element program ABAQUS. The results indicated that proper characterizations of the nonlinear stress-dependent geomaterials significantly impacted accurate predictions of critical pavement responses. The prediction ability of the developed nonlinear UMAT characterization was next validated by predicting similar pavement critical responses to those measured from field instrumented pavement test sections. Different resilient modulus models, considering both axisymmetric and 3D stress states, developed from true triaxial test data on unbound granular materials were also studied. When the intermediate principal stresses were taken into account in the 3D modulus model development unlike in the axisymmetric models, somewhat lower asphalt concrete tensile strains were obtained from 3D nonlinear FE analyses of flexible pavements with unbound aggregate bases.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Brown, S. F., and Pappin, J. W. (1981). “Analysis of pavements with granular bases.” Transportation Research Record. 810, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 17–23.
Desai, C. S., and Siriwardane, H. J. (1984). Constitutive laws for engineering materials, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
Duncan, J. M., Monismith, C. L., and Wilson, E. L. (1968). “Finite element analyses of pavements.” Transportation Research Record. 228, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 18–33.
Garg, N., Tutumluer, E., and Thompson, M. R. (1998). “Structural modeling concepts for the design of airport pavements for heavy aircraft.” Proc., 5th Int. Conf. on the Bearing Capacity of Roads and Airfields, Trondheim, Norway, 115–124.
Gopalakrishnan, K. (2004). “Performance analysis of airport flexible pavements subjected to new generation aircraft.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.
Hibbit, Karlsson, & Sorensen, Inc. (2005). ABAQUS/standard user’s manual, version 6.5, Hibbit, Karlsson, & Sorensen, Pawtucket, R.I.
Hjelmstad, K. D., and Taciroglu, E. (2000). “Analysis and implementation of resilient modulus models for granular solids.” J. Eng. Mech., 126(8), 821–830.
Huang, Y. H. (2004). Pavement analysis and design, 2nd Ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.
Kim, J. (2000). “Three-dimensional finite element analysis of multi-layered systems.” Ph.D. dissertation, Univ. of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.
Kim, M., and Tutumluer, E. (2006). “Modeling nonlinear, stress dependent pavement foundation behavior using a general-purpose finite element program.” ASCE Geotechnical Special Publication No. 154, Pavement Mechanics and Performance, B. Huang, R. Meier, J. Prozzi, and E. Tutumluer, eds., 29–36.
Liu, X., Scarpas, A., Blaauwendraad, J., and Genske, D. D. (1998). “Geogrid reinforcing of recycled aggregate materials for road construction: Finite element investigation.” Transportation Research Record. 1611, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 78–85.
National Cooperative Highway Research Program 1-37A. (2004). “Guide for mechanistic-empirical design of new and rehabilitated pavement structures.” Final Rep., TRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., ⟨http://www.trb.org/mepdg/home.htm⟩.
Raad, L., and Figueroa, J. L. (1980). “Load response of transportation support systems.” Transp. Engrg. J., 106(1), 111–128.
Rowshanzamir, M. A. (1995). “Resilient cross-anisotropic behavior of granular base materials under repetitive loading.” Ph.D. dissertation, School of Civil Engineering, Univ. of New South Wales, Kensington, Australia.
Saad, B., Mitri, H., and Poorooshasb, H. (2005). “Three-dimensional dynamic analysis of flexible conventional pavement foundation.” J. Transp. Eng., 131(6), 460–469.
Schwartz, C. W. (2002). “Effect of stress-dependent base layer on the superposition of flexible pavement solutions.” Int. J. Geomech., 2(3), 331–352.
Sukumaran, B., Chamala, N., Willis, M., Davis, J., Jurewicz, S., and Kyatham, V. (2004). “Three dimensional finite element modeling of flexible pavements.” Proc., 2004 FAA Worldwide Airport Technology Transfer Conf., Atlantic City, N.J.
Thompson, M. R., and Elliott, R. P. (1985). “ILLI-PAVE based response algorithms for design of conventional flexible pavements.” Transportation Research Record. 1043, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 50–57.
Thompson, M. R., and Robnett, Q. L. (1979). “Resilient properties of subgrade soils.” Transp. Engrg. J., 105(1), 71–89.
Tutumluer, E. (1995). “Predicting behavior of flexible pavements with granular bases.” Ph.D. dissertation, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.
Uzan, J. (1985). “Characterization of granular materials.” Transportation Research Record. 1022, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 52–59.
Witczak, M. W., and Uzan, J. (1988). “The universal airport pavement design system rep. I. Granular material characterization.” Rep. Prepared for Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Maryland at College Park, College Park, Md.
Zaghloul, S. M., and White, T. D. (1993). “Use of a three-dimensional, dynamic finite element program for analysis of flexible pavement.” Transportation Research Record. 1388, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 60–69.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 30, 2007
Accepted: Apr 7, 2009
Published online: Sep 15, 2009
Published in print: Oct 2009
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.