DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF RIGID ROADWAY PAVEMENT UNDER MOVING TRAFFIC LOADS

The study of the dynamic response of rigid roadway pavements subjected to dynamic loads such as vehicle loads has received significant attention in recent years, because of the relevance to the design of pavements. This paper presents an analytical solution based on the Modified Bolotin Method to analyze rigid pavements under moving traffic loads. The concrete pavement is modelled as an orthotropic damped plate resting on a continuous elastic foundation, whereby at its edges it is partially fixed. The natural frequencies of the system are computed from a system of two transcendental equations, obtained from the solution of two auxiliary Levy's type problems. The dynamic vehicle load is expressed as a concentrated load of harmonically varying magnitude, travelling with a variable speed along the rigid pavement. A numerical example is given, demonstrating the applicability of the theory to rigid roadway pavements under actual loading conditions. Therefore, it may be expected that this dynamic load approach may lead to more economic solutions as compared to those obtained from the conventional static load approach.