Structural performance evaluation of airport asphalt pavement based on field data measurement and finite element simulation

Airport asphalt pavement failure is caused by the combined effects of temperature and aircraft loading. Sensors have been effectively used to monitor the structural health of airport asphalt pavements. However, deploying sensors in multiple locations results in limited and discontinuous information. In this sense, finite element (FE) models are established to analyze the pavement service conditions at arbitrary locations in the airport pavement. First, sensors are used to measure pavement response and temperature data to verify the feasibility of the finite element method (FEM). Secondly, temperature index and performance-based zones of pavement structural layers are proposed based on the FEM. The proposed FE models demonstrate the feasibility of obtaining structural response and temperature distribution for performance zoning of different structural layers. This method improves the accuracy of performance evaluation through field data measurements, and provides guidance for the optimal design of airport pavement structure.