Effect of Repeated Traffic Loads on Most Significant Distresses of Flexible Pavement

Abstract

Early fatigue and rutting are among the most common types of road damage due to their main relationship with pavement performance. These damages occur due to excessive loads on the axles of the vehicles or improper design of the mixture in addition to the traditional design methods used in paving designs. Therefore, these premature damages must be avoided for the proper performance and service of the road. In order to overcome some traditional design weaknesses, mechanical-empirical design techniques using software like the ABAQUS program are essential. This program determines the exact stresses, strains, and displacement in asphalt pavement, which is then used to predict rutting and fatigue failures. HMA layers behave like viscoelastic materials in actual field conditions, and temperature variations and loading period influence their mechanical response. This study aims to investigate the ABAQUS software's problem-simulation capabilities and compare the findings to experimental work using the mechanical-empirical approach (E-M) to investigate the most valuable features during temperature change and optimize the design of paving constructions. The results highlighted the significance of the impact that increased loads and temperature changes might have on the performance service life of flexible paving with flexible-viscous layers, where life decreases with increasing loads applied to the pavement surface, where life reduces to 50% of age when the loads are increased to twice the standard load. At the same time, both the vertical stress and the percentage of damage increase with both the change in temperature and with the Temperature increases also result in higher tensile and compressive strain values, which might have an impact on the cost of the paving life cycle. Therefore its impact on future maintenance requirements must be verified.