Fast and Accurate Method for Calculating the Surface Mechanical Responses of Asphalt Pavements

Abstract

Since the linear elastic layered theory was developed in 1940s, it has been widely used to evaluate asphalt pavement soundness, and the mechanical responses have been used to analyze the bearing capacity of pavement structures and top-down fatigue cracking. However, there is poor convergence of mechanical responses on the surface of the top layer. Therefore, this article proposes an approach to quickly and accurately determine the mechanical response of asphalt pavement surfaces. This approach separates the equations for calculating the mechanical response into two parts, and then the two parts are solved according to the convergence of integrals of surface mechanical responses. The result shows that the surface point calculation method cannot only ensure the accuracy of calculation, but also greatly improve the efficiency of calculation. This approach provides an effective tool to determine mechanical responses.