Dynamic Effects of Moving Loads on the Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement Responses

Abstract

In this paper, to analyze the Jointed Plain Concrete Pavement (JPCP), a 3-D dynamic model of the pavement was modeled using ABAQUS. Moving load with different speed and interaction between the Dowel bar and concrete has been considered in this research. The output for the strain in the joints has been validated with accurate experimental results. Research has shown that the finite element analysis, is an accurate and efficient method to model the interaction between the dowel bar and surrounding concrete. The results showed that with increasing the speed of moving load, the maximum strain in joints decreases. Such reduction is about 18% for the 20 ton axial load and the speed of 120 km/hr. relative to the speed of 32 km/hr. In addition, with increasing the axial load, the maximum strain in the joints increases. This increase is more for the lower speeds. In addition, it is found that decreasing the loading speed and increasing the axial load will result in increasing the maximum strain and maximum stress in the connected area of dowel bar and surrounding concrete. Thus it may become more than the ultimate tensile strength and result in initiate cracking in the tensile area of concrete slab, especially in the joints. Furthermore, the results showed that changing the mechanical specification of concrete would not significantly affect the maximum strain in the JPCP, which using C50 instead of C25, the maximum strain would increase about 10%. However, the mechanical specification of JPCP could affect the cracking propagation and concrete durability.