Effect of Pavement Foundation Materials on Rigid Pavement Response

Abstract Rigid pavements are increasingly becoming a primary pavement type for highways under heavy traffic loading due to their long service life and less frequent requirements for maintenance compared to flexible pavements. The behaviour of a rigid pavement during service life is affected by several parameters such as applied loading features, pavement properties, environmental effects, and pavement foundation properties, which must be taken into account in the analysis and design of rigid pavements. The pavement foundation consists of base, subbase, and subgrade layers, all of which play substantial roles in the long-term performance of the rigid pavement. With the development of computer capacity, the three-dimensional finite element method (3D-FEM) has become a widely utilized tool for analysis of concrete structures such as pavements as it overcomes the limitations of analytical solutions. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the effects of pavement foundation characteristics on rigid pavement response using EverFE software. The parameters examined in this study included the thickness and properties of each layer of the pavement foundation. The analysis results revealed that, generally, stresses and settlements within rigid pavement are considerably reduced when a stiff or thick foundation is used. The analysis of results also showed that the tension bending stresses in the base layer decreased significantly with increases in the thickness of the base layer. It was also found that the addition of a subbase layer within the pavement foundation produced a significant reduction in the tension bending stresses in pavement and base layers with no in compression stresses in both layers noted.