Analysis of Flexible Pavements Comprised of Conventional and High Modulus Asphalt Concrete Subjected to Moving Loading using Linear Viscoelastic Theory

In order to prevent distresses in asphalt pavement, the analysis of pavement structure should be as close as possible to its real behavior. However, in actual standard for designing asphalt pavement, viscoelastic behavior of asphalt mixtures and effects of moving vehicles are still not considered. In this paper, the authors aim at applying an analytical approach for analyzing the linear viscoelastic behavior of asphalt pavements comprised of conventional and high modulus asphalt concrete caused by a moving loading. It is shown that the effects of moving load give rise to an increase in tensile stress at the pavement surface and at the bottom of asphalt layers, which can be a reason for premature cracks in flexible pavement. The results also show that the use of high modulus asphalt concrete layers gives rise to a significant reduction of tensile stress and strain at the pavement surface as well as at the bottom of asphalt layer.