The paper presents the development of a computer program VIEM for the elastic analysis ofmultilayered elastic pavements under the action of arbitrary tire-pavement contact pressuredistributions. The techniques adapted in VIEM primarily involves the use of a two-dimensional numerical integration to integrate point load solutions over the distributed pressure after discretizing the contact area into a finite number of triangular or quadrilateral elements. Values of contact pressure are inputted at the node points of discretized area. Numerical verification of VIEM indicates that numerical solution of high accuracy caD be efficiently calculated for the elastic response of multilayered asphalt pavements. As a result, the determination of displacements and stresses (strains) can be achieved using a personal computer. With the use of VIEM, a theoretical investigation is further performed to illustrate the effects of tire-pavement contact pressure distributions on the response of asphalt concrete pavements. An in situ measured tire - pavement contact pressure distribution is utilized in the investigation. Theresponse of asphalt concrete pavements due to the action of this measured contact pressure distribution is examined and compared with that due to the action of a uniform and circular contact pressure distribution by taking into account the influences of moduli and thicknesses of structural layers. The results of this investigation confirm theoretically a general consensus that details of the contact pressure distribution affect stresses and strains near the surface of the pavement, whereas the response in the lower layers depends mainly on the overall load. In particular, the contact pressure distributions have a significant effect on the horizontal tensile strains at the bottom of thin asphalt concrete layer which control the fatigue failure of asphalt pavements.
展开▼
