Thermal stress analysis of asphalt concrete pavement on concrete box girder bridge

Abstract

In order to investigate the failure mechanism of asphalt concrete pavement due to the temperature change on concrete box girder bridge, the site monitoring and finite element method were both adopted to analyze the temperature distribution and thermal stress within the bridge pavement during the higher and lower temperature seasons and the period when the pavement temperature decreases rapidly due to heavy shower in summer. In addition, the thermal stress was compared with the calculated results under vehicle loading. The research results show that the tensile stress caused by severe temperature drop is much larger than normal. The peak value of tensile stress caused by measured temperature distribution appears on the surface of pavement. The tensile stress under significant cooling is larger than that of under vehicle loading. The temperature load is considerably important in the pavement design based on the temperature distribution and thermal stress. Show more