Numerical assessment of asphalt pavement damage caused by longitudinal and transverse seams using Abaqus finite element software

As a result of factors such as traffic loading, temperature,humidity, subsoil movement, etc.the road pavement is exposed to various stresses that cause small damages to the pavement which can lead to bigger damages. and cause problems such as speed reduction, safety reduction,vehicle breakdown and service level reduction.In this research, in order to investigate the shear angle of the longitudinal and transverse seams of two adjacent asphalt layers, a laboratory asphalt sample has been used.The geometry of the pavement model includes an asphalt layer with a circular cross-section with a depth of 40mm and two loading plates with a length of12.7mm that are installed at the top and bottom of the model.Also, the analysis of the simulation of the angle of the seams from theABAQUS finite element software was used to model and analyze10numerical models.According to the results,in transverse seams, with the increase of the seam angle, vertical and shear stresses in the seam area decrease, so that the reduction of shear stresses is more noticeable than the reduction of vertical stress. According to the investigation of the internal forces at the location of the transverse seams,it was observed that with the increase of the angle of the transverse seam up to45 degrees,there is a sharp decrease in the vertical and shear stresses,but from the angle of45 to90 degrees, this change is associated with a downward trend; Therefore, the cutting angle of45 degrees has shown a better performance in loading asphalt pavements .Also,in longitudinal seams as well as transverse seams, vertical and shear stresses in the seam area are reduced by increasing the seam angle,and the shear angle of30degrees has shown better performance in loading asphalt pavements.Based on the numerical results,under the same conditions, more shear stress is created in the location of the longitudinal seams than in the transverse seams.