• Chabot, Armelle
• Tamagny, Philippe
• Ehrlacher, Alain
• Tran, Quang Dat

Abstract

The French pavement design method uses the 2D axi-symmetric structural analysis of Burmister's model [1]. This model calculates almost analytically and efficiently a multi-layer on a solid half space soil subjected to a circular load. However, to take into account pavement degradations as cracks in the structure, for concrete and bituminous pavements, the design method requires other models. They can be modelled by using 3D finite element methods, but such calculations can be very time-consuming. To make a proper analysis of crack initiation and propagation in pavement structures, we propose to use a simplified plate model linked to the Boussinesq model for the soil. This approach produces regular stress fields near cracks at the interface of two different layers. The resolution is carried out numerically under Matlab [2]. This model gives, very quickly, good approximations of the design stress fields near interfaces and cracks in comparison with finite element calculations. In the aim to simulate some fatigue problems, a method is presented to accelerate the calculations. It consists in writing the 3D problem in a form without dimension. Then, the evolution of the main fields can be obtained with a "table of results" that has been built.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• crack
• fatigue