Finite Element Assessment of Temperature Effects on the Performance of Bituminous Pavement Materials

This study investigates the effectiveness of the finite element method for predicting the performance of flexible pavements subjected to varying traffic-loading and environmental conditions. A two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model of a flexible pavement structure was developed using ABAQUS software v2022. In order to estimate the necessary pavement stiffness for reducing the likelihood of rutting and fatigue failure, the impacts of loading and operational characteristics of modern trucks were taken into consideration. Detailed parametric analyses were conducted to comprehensively assess the effect of substrate temperature profile variations on pavement performance. The findings demonstrate that utilization of a stiffer binder results in substantial reductions in critical tensile and compressive strains.