Simulated fracture in concrete composite pavements using a coupled lattice and finite element model

This research describes a computational model developed to investigate failure at the interface of two layers of a newly-constructed concrete composite pavement under wheel and thermal loads. This failure is often referred to as "debonding." The likelihood of debonding is considered in light of construction practices and heterogeneity in the concrete layers. Simulations determined that for debonding to occur, significant degradation of interfacial properties in combination with extreme, unrealistic thermal strains would be required. These simulations support observations of composite concrete pavements in Europe, where no debonding has been noted in over fifty years of application. Biography: Derek Tompkins is a Research Associate in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include the design and analysis of concrete pavements. Lev Khazanovich is Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include finite element analysis of soil-structure interaction using higher order subgrade soil models; non-destructive testing of concrete slabs-on-grade; the application of neural networks to pavement engineering and the mechanics of composite materials, and nonlinear fracture mechanics in brittle materials with emphasis on numerical modeling. John Bolander is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of California, Davis. His research interests include the use of model-based simulation to quantitatively link micro/mesomechanical actions to performance measures defined at the structural scale. These efforts include the simulation of life-cycle performance based on durability mechanics. Henryk Stolarski is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Minnesota. His research interests include structural and continuum mechanics, with particular emphasis on large deformation inelastic problems; the analysis of shell structures; and the development of variational methods and numerical techniques for nonlinear problems of mechanics.