Dynamic response of pavements on poroelastic half-space soil medium to a moving traffic load

This paper presents an investigation of the steady-state response of pavement systems subjected to a moving traffic load. The traffic loads are simulated by four rectangular load pressures, and the rigid and flexible pavement systems are regarded as an infinite plate resting on a poroelastic half-space soil medium. The contact surface between the plate and the poroelastic half-space is assumed to be smooth and fully permeable. Kirchhoff small-deflection thin-plate theory is employed to analyze the plate, while Biot’s fully dynamic poroelastic theory is used to characterize the poroelastic half-space. The frequency wave-number domain solution of the pavement system is obtained by the compatibility condition between the plate and the poroelastic half-space. By applying the inverse fast Fourier transform, the time domain solution is obtained. Also, the influences of the load speed, the permeability of the soil, and the flexural rigidity of the plate on the response of the pavement system are investigated. The numerical results show that the influences of these parameters on the dynamic response of the pavement system are significant.