Analysis of stress-dependent behavior in conventional asphalt pavements

Most low-volume roads are primarily thin flexible pavements with unbound base and subgrades whose materials are nonlinear and stress-dependent even under low traffic stresses. A need therefore exists for predicting more realistic pavement response based on proper constitutive models and the computational method. In this study, the non-linear stress-dependent finite element program (FERUT) for pavement analysis was developed. Stress-dependent models for the resilient modulus and Possion's Ratio of the unbound pavement materials were incorporated into the finite element model to predict the resilient behavior within the pavement layers under specified wheel loads. The results from this study show that the developed finite element model with the stress-dependency concept is suitable for taking into account for the effects of the non-linearity and stress-dependency of the unbound pavement layers in a pavement.