Civil Engineering Beyond Limits

Yazarlar: Nitish Bastola, Mena Souliman, Zabi Mohammed

Konular:-

DOI:10.36937/cebel.2021.001.005

Anahtar Kelimeler:Finite Element Modeling,Asphalt,Fatigue Test,Four-Point Bending Test,Pavement Materials.

Özet: Finite element modeling (FEM) has been an integral tool for civil engineering researchers. The simplification of day to day engineering problems with known scientific validation makes this tool more appropriate. In the field of pavement engineering, the use of FEM has been a relatively new tool. Various conditions of pavement materials, which are complex in nature, makes the modeling more challenging. This study aims to develop a basic beam model as per AASHTO T321 for evaluating the performance of asphalt material under fatigue loading. The necessary conditions and parameters are best optimized to match the research on National Cooperative Highway Research Program Project 9-44A (NCHRP Report 762). Various mechanical and fatigue-related properties of asphalt materials were studied to develop a simplified finite element approach through ANSYS. It is observed that stiffness induced behavior and fatigue performance can be predicted in advance and in a timely fashion with the utilization of FEM when compared to performing actual laboratory testing. In this study, different life and damage analyses were performed for different sets of the beam. It was found that stiffness plays a significant role in enhancing the minimum critical life of asphalt materials. A higher stiffness of the asphalt beam characterized a higher minimum critical life, and lower stiffness characterized the lower minimum critical life.

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