Influence of Nonlinear Analysis Technology on Damage Analysis of Asphalt Pavement Structure

As a means of predicting the damage pattern and design life of asphalt pavement structures, the reliability of damage analysis is highly dependent on the calculation accuracy of the pavement mechanical responses under wheel load. The nonlinear analysis, on its part, can practically describe the stress dependence of the modulus of granular materials and fine-grained soils, so that the mechanical responses of the wheel-loaded asphalt pavement structure can be obtained more accurately. Therefore, the correct application of nonlinear analysis technology is essential to obtain reliable damage analysis results. For this reason, computer program KENLAYER was utilized to explore the effects of stress adjustment methods and core parameters of nonlinear iterative analysis on the damage analysis results. According to the calculation results, this paper explains the reasons why the stress adjustment Methods 2 and 3 are not applicable to the structural analysis of pavements containing nonlinear granular materials in the case of thin surface layers, illustrates the effects of improper selection of the adjustment methods and each iteration parameter on the dominant damage pattern, finds out the reasons for unreliable calculation results due to improper selection of the iteration parameters, and makes corresponding suggestions for carrying out damage analysis accurately.