South African Road Design System Recursive Performance Simulation
Road Pavements Forum Feedback
20 November 2014
H L Theyse
Recursive Performance Simulation
Design Investigation Context
Simulation sections
Project
Project
start
Node
Climate or temperature
zone boundary
Project
end
Road link
Direction 1, lane 2
Direction 1, lane 1
Node
Road segments
Direction1:
Environment
Geometry
Road
segment
Severe
Warning
Sound
Severe
Simulation
section
Simulation
location
Warning
Simulation
location
Simulation
location
Active lane simulation
sections:
Pavement condition
Temporal recursive simulation
Simulation Section
Simulation Location
Simulation Location
Life-cycle strategy:
Initial construction
Maintenance
Rehabilitation
Life-cycle strategy:
Initial construction
Maintenance
Rehabilitation
Simulation Location
Life-cycle strategy:
Initial construction
Maintenance
Rehabilitation
Simulation year
Simulation month
Representative day
Morning
Day-time
Night-time
Load case 1
Load case 1
Load case 1
Load case 2
Load case 2
Load case 2
Load case n
Load case n
Load case n
Daily simulation periods
Morning
Day-time
Representative hour:
Morning
Representative hour:
Day-time
Night-time
Representative hour:
Night-time
Recursive Performance Simulation
Traffic loads
Load definitions
Load cases
Axle load tyre inflation pressure
combinations
Direction
of travel
P2
P1
P2
P1
P1
R
Traffic wander
Direction of travel, x
Lateral offset, y
Wheel-path centre-line
Direction of travel, x
Lateral offset, y
Wheel-path centre-line
Recursive Performance Simulation
Primary Pavement Response Model PPRM
Yesterday
Design load
Pavement
geometry
Material
input
Integral solution
of the multi-layer,
linear-elastic
system (ELSYM5,
BISAR)
Critical
response
parameters
Today
Pavement
geometry
Material
resilient
response
models
Wheel load
PPRM
Integral
solution
of the multi-layer,
cross-anisotropic,
CRAMES
linear-elastic
system (CRAMES)
Critical
response
parameters
Primary Pavement Response Model functions
Effective stress analysis
Thermal stress in asphalt
Suction pressure and residual compaction stress in
unbound material
Convergence of stress-dependent resilient
response models
Analysis points (APs)
Wheel-path centre-line
Direction of travel, x
Lateral offset, y
Material type
Asphalt
Layer 1 with thickness D1
Unbound
Layer 2 with thickness D2
Stabilised
AP(i, j, k)
Unbound
Layer i with thickness Di
Linear-elastic
Subgrade
Layer i = n, j = m with
thickness Dn, m = 0
k=0 1 2
3 ..
Lateral offset index, k
+l
Depth, z
Recursive Performance Simulation
Material Models
Material models - Models coded to
date
Asphalt
Resilient response
Dynamic modulus model
Effective stress
Thermal stress
Fatigue
Initial strain based model
Subsequent stress based model
Plastic strain
Shear strain based model
Material models - Models coded to
date
Unbound granular material
Resilient response
Stress-dependent chord modulus model
Effective stress
Suction pressure
Residual compaction stress
Plastic strain
Stress Ratio based model
Material models - Models coded to
date
Subgrade
Resilient response
Linear-elastic model with stiffness reduction
Plastic strain
Subgrade Elastic Deflection based model
Fine-grained subgrade material
Coarse (gravel) subgrade material
Development Cycles
Step 1
Laboratory calibrated models
Implement in recursive simulation
Is the correct behaviour simulated?
Step 2
Field calibration under controlled conditions
Step 3
Field calibration under operational conditions
Recursive Performance Simulation
Recursive simulation results
Recursive simulation results
Maximum rut
Pavement rut on the
wheel-path centre-line
Aggressive traffic loading N3
Sand subgrade selected to
illustrate subgrade
deformation
Slow version given
stress-dependent base
layer model
40 AC
150 G1
300 C3
150 G7
Subgrade
Recursive simulation results
Maximum rut
G1 base stress-dependent chord modulus
VD = 88 %; S = 49 %
Results shown for one load case, repeated for
every tyre load contact stress combination
Effective subbase stiffness 1200 MPa
Recursive simulation results
Maximum rut
G1 base stress-dependent chord modulus
VD = 88 %; S = 49 %
Results shown for one load case, repeated for
every tyre load contact stress combination
Effective subbase stiffness 300 MPa
Recursive simulation results
Maximum rut
Subgrade deformation
Recursive simulation results
Maximum rut
G1 base layer deformation
Recursive simulation results
Maximum rut
Asphalt wearing course deformation
Recursive simulation results
Maximum rut
Maximum rut on wheel-path centre-line
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Layer stiffness reduction
on the wheel-path centreline in each sub-layer
Aggressive traffic loading N3
Fast version without
stress-dependent layers
40 AC
150 G1
300 C3
150 G7
Subgrade
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Asphalt strain based fatigue (Ver. 22)
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Two problems with asphalt strain based
fatigue
Very little fatigue
Higher monthly fatigue increment in summer
months
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Low level of simulated fatigue
Fatigue tests done on commercial equipment
AASHTO T321 test method
the loading device shall be capable of (1) repeated
sinusoidal loading (3) forcing the specimen back to
its original position (i.e. zero deflection) at the end of
each load pulse.
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Low level of simulated fatigue
Pmax
Load amplitude P
Pmin
P/2
P/2
Beam specimen
Neutral axis
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Low level of simulated fatigue
Load/Stress
Load amplitude P
Pmax
Displacement/Strain
lP
t 2
bh
Pmin
lPmax
lPmin
t 2 and t 2
bh
bh
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Low level of simulated fatigue
Stress and strain levels reported by the
equipment is twice the actual outer-fibre stress
and strain
Model is calibrated with the error included in the
strain level
Test supposedly done at 200
Forward simulation calculates working strain 60
60
well below 200
- almost no fatigue simulated
Actual test strain is 100
and 60
is much closer to
the test strain more fatigue simulated
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Higher monthly fatigue increment in summer
months
Explanation
Strain highly dependent on stiffness
Stiffness highly dependent on temperature
High summer temperature
Low stiffness
High strain
Higher fatigue increment
Design risk
Mixes with high stiffness will be selected for better fatigue
performance which is incorrect
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Higher monthly fatigue increment in summer
months
Solution
Stress based fatigue
Motivation
Fracture mechanics considers cracks to be a stress
phenomenon
Allows direct introduction of thermal stress effects in
fatigue simulation
Temperature change has a stress effect similar to that of an external
wheel-load
Thermal cracking and fatigue become two fracture
mechanisms explained by the same basic model
Effective stress in asphalt
Thermal stress
External
stress
Effective
stress
hT
S xx K11
S yy K 21
S zz K 31
S xy 0
S yz 0
S zx 0
K12
K 22
K 32
0
0
0
K13
K 23
K 33
0
0
0
0
0
0
K 44
0
0
0
0
0
0
K 55
0
0 exx K11
0 e yy K 21
0 ezz K 31
0 exy 0
0 eyz 0
K 66 ezx 0
K12
K 22
K 32
0
0
0
K13
K 23
K 33
0
0
0
0
0
0
K 44
0
0
0
0
0
0
K 55
0
0 T
0 T
0 T
0 0
0 0
K 66 0
Effective stress - asphalt
TR
Stress based fatigue including
thermal stress
Fracture damage
D=1
T = -10C
T = 10C
T = 20C
T = 60C
Stress cycles wheel load or temperature cycles
Single thermal cycle
Memory-less fatigue damage
model
Stress based model
D s
D b
D k
2
N e
a
1
c
a 1T 2 t3 t4 lnT
b 1
3T 4
k 1T t
2
s 1 2 T 3 ln t 4 T ln t
5019 kPa at 5C
4355 kPa at 10C
1350 kPa at 20C
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Asphalt stress based fatigue (Ver. 23)
Still excludes thermal stress
Recursive simulation results
Stiffness reduction
Asphalt stress based fatigue (Ver. 23)
Recursive simulation Closing
statements
The models cannot be used without
sophisticated software
Unfortunately pavement behaviour and
performance is not simple
Role of the design engineer
Proper design investigation and material
characterisation
Not models and calculations
Inputs are really simple except for advanced
input level
