• Interaction and multiscale mechanics
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.105-114
• /
• 2012

The study of rigid roadway pavement under dynamic traffic loads with variable velocity is investigated in this paper. Rigid roadway pavement is modeled as a rectangular damped orthotropic plate supported by elastic Pasternak foundation. The boundary supports of the plate are the steel dowels and tie bars which provide elastic vertical support and rotational restraint. The natural frequencies of the system and the mode shapes are solved using two transcendental equations, obtained from the solution of two auxiliary Levy's type problems, known as the Modified Bolotin Method. The dynamic moving traffic load is expressed as a concentrated load of harmonically varying magnitude, moving straight along the plate with a variable velocity. The dynamic response of the plate is obtained on the basis of orthogonality properties of eigenfunctions. Numerical example results show that the velocity and the angular frequency of the loads affected the maximum dynamic deflection of the rigid roadway pavement. It is also shown that a critical speed of the load exists. If the moving traffic load travels at critical speed, the rectangular plate becomes infinite in amplitude.