Surface Loading of a Multilayered Viscoelastic Pavement: Moving Dynamic Load

A semi-analytical solution is proposed to attack the problem of viscoelastic pavement response (displacements, stresses and strains) subjected to a surface moving dynamic load. The general solution, in the context of Layered Viscoelastic Theory (LVET), is formulated in terms of two convolution integrals: the implicit and the explicit convolution integrals. The implicit convolution integral is solved using the technique by Chen et al 2009, by which the explicit convolution integral is then addressed and a semi-analytical solution is generated. This semi-analytical solution is fully analytical in the time domain and involves only a single integral in the space domain. The accuracy of the proposed semi-analytical solution is verified by the commercial finite element method software Abaqus. Since the proposed semi-analytical solution is analytical in the time domain, it is computationally very efficient. Pavement response subjected to a Falling Weight Deflection (FWD) load is introduced briefly for its potential application to pavement back calculation. Finally, the proposed semi-analytical solution is employed to predict the stabilization phenomenon. which could be applied to capture the critical response of a continuous viscoelastic pavement.