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Viscoelastic continuum damage finite element modeling of asphalt pavements for fatigue cracking evaluation

  • Highway Engineering
  • Published:
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering Aims and scope

Abstract

This paper documents the findings from the study of fatigue cracking mechanisms in asphalt pavements using the finite element program (VECD-FEP++) that employs the viscoelastic continuum damage model for the asphalt layer and a nonlinear elastic model for unbound layers. Both bottom-up and top-down cracks are investigated by taking several important variables into account, such as asphalt layer thickness, layer stiffness, pressure distribution under loading, and load level applied on the pavement surface. The cracking mechanisms in various pavement structures under different loading conditions are studied by monitoring a damage contour. Preferred conditions for top-down cracking were identified using the results from this parametric study. The conjoined damage contours in thicker pavements suggest that the through-the-thickness crack may develop as the bottom-up and top-down cracks propagate simultaneously and coalesce together, supporting observations from field cores and raising the question of the validity of traditional fatigue performance models that account for the growth of the bottom-up cracking only.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HTTI, Korea Highway Corporation, Korea

    Sungho Mun (Member, Senior Researcher)

  2. Department of Civil, Construction & Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7908, Raleigh, NC, U.S.A.

    Murthy N. Guddati (Assistant Professor) & Y. Richard Kim (Professor)

Authors
  1. Sungho Mun
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  2. Murthy N. Guddati
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  3. Y. Richard Kim
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Correspondence to Sungho Mun.

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Mun, S., Guddati, M.N. & Kim, Y.R. Viscoelastic continuum damage finite element modeling of asphalt pavements for fatigue cracking evaluation. KSCE J Civ Eng 10, 97–104 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02823927

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02823927

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