Numerical investigation of load-induced fatigue cracking in curved ramp bridge deck pavement considering tire-bridge interaction

Load-induced fatigue cracking is one of the main distresses of bridge deck pavement; however, due to the complexity of curved ramp bridge structures, it is difficult to effectively consider this damage behavior in the deck pavement design procedure. To deal with this problem, a three-dimensional (3D) tire-bridge interaction finite element (FE) model was developed in the present study to investigate the load-induced fatigue damage behavior within the curved ramp bridge deck pavement. In this FE model, an inflated tire model was developed to simulate the rolling tire load, and the Yeoh model was used to define the constitutive relationship of the hyperelastic material. In addition, the extended finite element method (XFEM) was utilized to describe the crack initiation and evolution, and a direct cycle algorithm was used to calculate the fatigue crack propagation law of deck pavement under different structural design parameters. The results indicated that the developed tire-bridge interaction FE model furnishes an in-depth insight into the fatigue crack propagation within curved ramp bridge deck pavement. The consideration of the tire-bridge interaction and structural design parameters has a significant influence on the accurate prediction of the fatigue crack evolution law within different deck pavement locations. Because the developed full-scale FE model is capable of simultaneously considering multiple factors, including the curvature radius, transverse and longitudinal slope, traffic speeds and tire-bridge interaction loads, it can be expected to be a mechanistic tool to facilitate and enhance fatigue damage analysis of curved ramp bridge deck pavement.