Simulation And Analysis Of The Rutting Phenomenon On Asphalt Bridge Deck Pavement

Reinforced concrete bridges are playing a significant role in transportation of China. They are one of the most important guarantees of the rapid development of Chinese economy. The large amount of newly-constructed highways in recent years makes the application of reinforce concrete bridges more broad. The frequent early damages happened on the bridge deck pavement in service, especially the rutting phenomenon, impact a lot on the passing rate and the service quality of the bridges. The rutting damage would bring serious economic lose and abominable social effect due to the particularity and complexity of deck pavement, which is a difficult problem needed to be solved in engineering.The working environment of asphalt deck pavement is very complex. It includes not only the distribution of working temperature varying with time and space, but also the great differences on loading condition comparing to asphalt road pavement, as well as the integrated effects of other environment factors. All of these put obstacles on the way to analyze the working condition of deck pavement theoretically. This thesis focuses on the developing regulation of rutting phenomenon on bridge deck pavement, hoping to find the regularity of rutting damage on deck pavement by the non-linear finite element method simulation, together with the theoretical analysis of dissipated energy flow in the deck pavement and proposes a kind of permanent-deformation-considered deck pavement design method which is feasible in engineering.A finite element model was established to simulate and calculate the temperature field distribution varying along time, with the influencing factors of the temperature condition in deck pavements analyzed. Based on this, proper viscoelastic material model was chosen and the developing process of rutting on deck pavement under the standard axle load was simulated by non-linear finite element method. The developing regulation of rutting on deck pavement was studied through rutting depth and composition. The impacts of transverse loading position, overloading and vehicle velocity were also studied. Then, the energy flow inside deck pavement in the development process of rutting was analyzed according to energy theory and the regularity of rutting development on deck pavement was analyzed by dissipated energy theory as well. At last, according to some existent asphalt pavement design method, a permanent-deformation-considered deck pavement design method was promoted, taking the specialty of deck pavements into consideration.The following conclusions can be drawn from this study. In its earlier stage, rutting is mainly contributed by the vertical compaction of asphalt mixture, while in the later stage by its horizontal flow. In the double-layer paving system, the rutting mainly happens in the lower layer and has a good correlation with the vertical creep strain. In the developing process of rutting, energy dissipates by the plastic flow of asphalt mixture and the development of cracks. The developing regularity obtained by the analysis of dissipated energy theory is similar with that from finite element method.The analyses of rutting phenomenon on bridge deck pavement in this thesis have further revealed the process and essence of rutting damage on deck pavement. The high-temperature property of asphalt deck pavement has been understood more clearly. A new approach of rutting analysis by dissipation energy theory has also been explored. Although the permanent-deformation-considered deck pavement design method promoted has not been tested in the practice projects, it still provides some good references for the design and construction of asphalt deck pavement.