Dynamic strain response of asphalt pavement and equivalent conversion of load effects
Ai Changfa 1,3 Xiao Chuan 2,3 Zeng Jie 1,3 Rahman Ali 1,3 Qiu Yanjun 1,3
1. School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University
2. Sichuan College of Architectural Technology
3. Key Laboratory of Highway Engineering of Sichuan Province, Southwest Jiaotong University
Full-scale field tests were conducted to analyze the measured dynamic strain response of asphalt pavement subjected to the falling weight deflectometer (FWD) load and BZZ-100 standard vehicle loading. The corresponding linkage between FWD load and BZZ-100 vehicle load was studied on the basis of strain equivalency. Results show that under the FWD load impact and various standard speeds, the longitudinal strain at the bottom of asphalt surface course is larger than that of the transverse strain; the dynamic strain increases gradually with increasing FWD load and pavement temperature. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of strain response is highly affected by the pavement structure, but it is little affected by the variation of FWD load. Under the influence of moving load, sensitivity of three types of pavement structures to pavement temperature is ranked as: S2 > S3 > S1. With the increase of FWD load, the speed of standard axle load based on strain equivalency decreases gradually; under the same FWD load, the corresponding speed of BZZ-100 standard axle load in S1 is the highest, followed by S3, S2. Results in this study reveal that the established equivalent conversion relationship between FWD load level and BZZ-100 vehicle speed is able to accurately simulate the actual traffic loads.