Dynamic Response of the Layered Mediums to the Impact Load (on the Example of Motorways)

Introduction. The main way to assess the load-bearing capacity of the road structures (which represent the layered mediums consisting of the materials of different rigidity) is by testing them with the impact loading test facilities. The analysis of the results of such tests reveals that they focus only on studying the peak values of vertical movements without taking into account changes of these parameters in frequency or time. However, it is the study of amplitude-frequency specifications of movements that can enable solving a number of pressing problems, e.g., related to bringing the actual values of vertical movements to the values of design mode operation of the structure. The aim of the present research is to analyse the dynamic response of the motorway layered mediums (road structures) to the impact load in order to bring the actual parameters of the dynamic response to the design parameters, which comply with the requirements of the national regulatory documents on road design.

Materials and Methods. The modern impact loading test facilities make it possible to simulate the impact pulse duration of 0.03s, while the design values of the elasticity moduli equal to 0.1s. To overcome this discrepancy, the authors have implemented the precise solution of the dynamic Lame equation for a multilayered half-space and have drawn up a number of amplitude-frequency specifications of movements, which have been processed and have become a basis for deriving a simple functional dependency.

Results. The methodology of drawing up the amplitude-frequency specifications of the movements on the road pavement surface, subject to impact action, has been developed and implemented in practice. Based on the precise solution of the dynamic Lame equation, by using the statistical processing, a simple regression dependency for calculating the vertical movements has been determined. An example of the elastic moduli calculation of the road structure layers, taking into account their dependency on the load application time, has been presented.

Discussion and Conclusion. Within the framework of the research, for the first time, a methodology has been developed for bringing the actual values of vertical movements to the values of design mode operation of the road structure based entirely on the computational analysis of its dynamic stress-strain state (SSS), in particular, the amplitude-frequency specification of deformation under the non-stationary impact. The developed approach contributes significantly to increasing the credibility of the motorway condition diagnostics, as well as ensures the integrity of measurements and results obtained during the road design and diagnostics. 

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