Design and evaluation of a simulation tool for the compaction process of asphalt pavements

Maintenance of flexible paved roads is faced increasingly with time constraints and spatial limitations. As a consequence rather often the maintenance process has to be carried out under less favorable circumstances, e.g. adverse weather conditions. It raises a number of questions, such as; “how do less favorable circumstances affect the quality of work?”, and, “how should the operating procedure of the maintenance process be adapted to unexpected or changing conditions?” The paper presents the results of a research project that focuses on the compaction process of asphalt pavements to determine the impact of varying conditions during this process. The main objective is the design of a simulation tool for the compaction effect of a roller under varying external conditions. During the compaction process material behavior is mainly elastic-plastic due to the reorientation of the particles. Large deformations can occur and, because of that, also large strains. Therefore, an elastic-plastic non-linear analysis is carried out to examine the relations between roller and material properties and the compaction result. Within the DiekA model, an Arbitrary Langrange Eulerian FEM approach, a material model derived from soil mechanics and called “Rock model” is implemented. This model describes material behavior in an elastic-plastic manner and has a closed yield locus. Calculations with the model show a realistic stress and strain pattern in the asphalt mix under a static roller while compacting. In the project, a field experiment has been set up to validate the model.