ALVA: An adaptive MATLAB package for layered viscoelastic analysis

Abstract

A key component in design and analysis of asphalt pavements is the response model, used to calculate the stresses, strains and displacements in the structure, when subjected to mechanical loading. For many years, response models formulated within the theoretical continuummechanics framework of a stratified half-space have been successfully used (Khazanovich & Wang, 2007). In this framework a pavement system is viewed as a collection of layers, each of finite thickness, resting on a semi-infinite medium, also referred to as the Layered Elastic Theory (LET) (Burmister, 1945). Several computer programs for the analysis of pavement systems were developed on the basis of LET. However, new design guidelines and in-situ evaluation of mechanical pavement properties entail re-execution of the underlying model many times over, making the response analysis extremely time consuming. This has resulted in development of numerical acceleration techniques for improved computational efficiency (Erlingsson & Ahmed, 2013; Khazanovich & Wang, 2007) implemented in the computer package ELLEA (Levenberg, 2016a). Moreover, the engineering community is placing increased emphasis on linear viscoelastic characterization of asphalt materials. It is therefore anticipated, that routine pavement-related calculations would soon evolve to include time dependent layer properties and moving loads as supported by the computer packages ViscoRoute (Chabot et al., 2010) and ELLVA (Levenberg, 2016b). Other relevant features for pavement evaluation, incorporated with the computer package GAMES, is the capability of describing both vertical and shear loadings, as well as perfect and deficient bonding along the interfaces of neighboring layers (Maina & Matsui, 2004).