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Analyzing dynamic viscoelastic responses induced by moving loads is a significant issue for pavement design and performance evaluation. Developing three-dimensional FE models in commercial software is an effective method, but the time-consuming disadvantage prevents it from extensive engineering applications. In this paper, an improved semi-analytical FE model was proposed to overcome this drawback. Besides, modified artificial boundaries were applied to minimise the interference of reflected waves generated by model edges. Further, a program named SAPAVE has been developed in MATLAB to achieve the modeling procedure, of which accuracy and efficiency were verified by comparing with the three-dimensional FE model in ABAQUS. The computing cost of SAPAVE was only one-sixth of ABAQUS, while SAPAVE can roughly achieve the function of ABAQUS for simple pavement modeling. The response considering the asphalt layer as viscoelastic was quite different from the linear elastic in the comparative study. The viscoelastic analysis seems to be closer to the field situation. Besides, the impact of vehicle speed was studied to examine the application ability of SAPAVE, and the results were generally consistent with existing researches. Overall, this study indicates that SAPAVE is an efficient and accurate tool for mechanical analysis of asphalt pavement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rutting resistance design of asphalt pavement is full of compromise between technology and economy because it is difficult to predict rutting evolution and distribution. In order to investigate the criterion of rutting, two forms yield function based on the Perzyna theory were contrasted and utilised in the finite element model. Besides, temperature and traffic load, the most important factors of rutting, were taken into consideration to make the analysis of yield function closer to the field condition of pavement. Two resistance points were proposed as criterions in this paper. One can be used in pavement maintenance to figure out the depth of serious rutting, the other can be used in pavement design to determine the usage depth of modified asphalt mixture. The analysis illustrates that the key to controlling rutting at intersections is to use better anti-rutting materials at the top layers instead of deepening the usage of modified asphalt mixture. Besides, the depth of rutting varies dramatically with axle weights. It can be inferred that there may be deviations of the prediction for the rutting distribution and evolution when using the method of equivalent axle weight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]