MECHANISTIC MODEL OF DOUBLE-LAYERED CONCRETE PAVEMENT STRUCTURES WITH UNEQUAL PLANAR DIMENSIONS

The concrete pavement on rigid or semi-rigid base is simplified as a double-layered structural system with unequal planar dimensions resting on an elastic foundation. The contact conditions of interface between the pavement slab and base are simulated by using a dual spring with normal and tangential stiffness. Through some examples, the convergence, model meshing and applicability of solid element and shell element are discussed. Then the paper examines the base extension effect, the influence of adjacent slabs on load transfer capacity and the difference of Winkler foundation and elastic half-space foundation in analyzing structural responses. The study showed that (1) the solid element is more suitable for the analysis of double-layered concrete pavement structures, (2) an extended base may decrease the stress in pavement by 0%―22%, whereas increase greatly the base stress, (3) the doweled and tied bars set over the pavement joints can effectively eliminate the void underneath and (4) at different loading locations the back-calculated moduli k are almost identical.