ANALYSIS ON RUTTING POTENTIAL OF ASPHALT PAVEMENT ON THE STEEL DECK BY FINITE ELEMENT METHOD

In order to analyze the influence of the paving layer thickness, geometrical configuration of steel box girder and loading magnitude on rutting occurring in asphalt pavement of the steel deck, a finite element method (FEM) model, which is validated by circular road tracking test, is established to simulate a double-layered pavement system widely used in the long-span suspension and cable-stayed bridge paving, namely with stone mastic asphalt (SMA) as its upper layer and mastic asphalt (MA) as its bottom layer. All the parameters involved in the model building are obtained from the repetitive tri-axial loading test. The results show that the layer of MA contributes the overwhelming majority to the permanent deformation; also it is found that, within a certain range, the rutting depth increases rapidly with the rise of the pavement thickness. Compared with the SMA layer, the MA layer proves more liable to be influenced by the increase of loading magnitude with regard to rutting occurrence. From the FEM analysis, geometric parameters, spacing of transverse partition board and steel deck thickness addressed here, are not so influential on pavement rutting. The results of this study can be used to provide reference for the design of pavement on the steel deck.