Modeling Measured 3D Tire Contact Stresses in a Viscoelastic FE Pavement Model

Three‐dimensional (3D) contact stresses occurring between the road surface and the tire that were measured with the South African Vehicle Road Surface Pressure Transducer Array (VRSPTA) device under a moving wheel are transformed to a corresponding force/stress pattern representing the actual contact stress state under the tire by means of a software program. In combination with a dynamic load function such force patterns derived from these Stress‐in‐Motion (SIM) measurements with the VRSPTA device are used to introduce a more advanced load representation of the tire‐pavement interface into a three‐dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model. Further, a method is presented to derive viscoelastic material properties of asphalt concrete (AC) mixes from dynamic frequency sweep shear (FS‐S) tests of lab specimens or field cores that can be used to define material behavior of the AC layers in the 3D FE pavement model. Linear elastic layered theory is utilized to validate the results of the FE computations in order to demonstrate that the FE method can successfully be used to include SIM measurements for more advanced analysis and design of pavements. First results of the 3D FE simulation of a load circle of the Heavy Vehicle Simulator (HVS) during accelerated pavement testing of a pavement test section are presented. These results encourage employment of the FE pavement model for further simulation work to assess the rutting potential of AC mixes in combination with different tire types and loading situations.