Abstract
OBJECTIVES : The objective of this research is to determine the integrity of pavement structures for areas where voids exist. Furthermore, we conducted the study of voided-area analysis and remaining life prediction for pavement structures using finite element method. METHODS : To determine the remaining life of the existing voided areas under asphalt concrete pavements, field and falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests were conducted. Comparison methods were used to have better accuracy in the finite element method (FEM) analysis compared to the measured surface displacements due to the loaded trucks. In addition, the modeled FEM used in this study was compared with well-known software programs. RESULTS : The results show that a good agreement on the analyzed and measured displacements can be obtained through comparisons of the surface displacement due to loaded trucks. Furthermore, the modeled FEM program was compared with the available pavement-structure software programs, resulting in the same values of tensile strains in terms of the thickness of asphalt concrete layers. CONCLUSIONS : The study, which is related to voided-area analysis and remaining life prediction using FEM for pavement structures, was successfully conducted based on the comparison between our methods and the sinkhole grade used in Japan.
