National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

The accurate modeling of the main features of continuously-reinforced concrete pavements (CRCP) is of primary importance in a mechanistic-empirical pavement design procedure. The use of the finite element (FE) method as a comprehensive tool for modeling the responses of rigid pavements, CRCP in particular, has been limited because of the complexity of calculations in modeling material nonlinear behaviors, which are difficult to describe mathematically and computationally. Significant amount of research has been conducted to improve the design of CRCPs under traffic, environmental, and thermal loads. To develop a reliable model that better represents the behavior of CRCP, a clear understanding of the design features that impact CRCP responses is essential. Researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso developed NYSLAB to analyze the response of comprehensively jointed concrete pavements (JCPs) under different geometric configurations, foundation models, temperature gradient profiles and traffic loads.