Plastic damage model to evaluate the fracture size of semi-rigid base pavement

A simple supported beam model has been presented to simulate the response of semi-rigid pavement structure, which are consistent of the upper layer, middle layer, bottom layer, base and sub base course, during the cycle vehicle loading. This mechanics model coupled with plastic-damage mechanics model could simulate the limit broken of the pavement structure in condition that soil base layer losing bearing capacity gradually. In the meanwhile, numerical calculations based on preceding mechanics model, using the FEM software ABAQUS, have been used to define the broken size of beam. The results indicated that: when the size of simple supported beam expanded to 10 m, brittle damage could happen immediately, Just the standard vehicle loading (about 0.7 Mpa) has been implement once. Objective of this study is to provide a physical and rather concrete explanation for the style and concept of the semi-rigid pavement brittle broken.