Effect of Support-loss on Stress Distribution of Airport Concrete Pavement Slab and Critical Support Condition

Abstract:

By using an array of spring elements to simulate the support condition under airport concrete pavement slab， a numerical simulation model was developed to study the variation of aircraft-induced strain under poor support conditions. The different aircraft loads and load transfer states at joints were considered. A full-scale experiment was conducted for model verification. As indicated in the results， the spring-based method that simulates the support condition performs well on solving the mechanical responses. Support-loss would increase the tensile strains at the edge of support-loss region， and the location where critical tensile strain occurs would be transferred from the bottom to the top of the pavement. When the critical tensile strain under poor support condition exceeds the maximum tensile strain under intact condition， the support condition was determined as the critical support condition. Compared with the conventional evaluation methods of support condition （e.g. deflection-based methods）， the critical support condition can reflect the effect of support-loss more accurately.