Examples

Stress and Strain in Flexible

Pavements
 Example one
The following figure shows a homogeneous half-
space subjected to a circular load 254 in diameter.
The pressure on the circular load is 345kpa. The
half-space had elastic modulus 69Mpa and Poisson
ratio 0.5. determine the vertical stress, strain and
deflection at point A which is located 254mm
below the center of one circle.

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 Example one
 Given:
– Load, P = ???
– Pressure, q = 345 kPa
– E = 69Mpa
– a = 254*0.5 = 127mm
– Poisons ratio [v] = 0.5
 Find:
– σz , σr , σt and w @z= 254 mm & r= 0 mm
– First, we need to calculate z/a and r/a:
– z/a = 254/127 = 2
– r/a = 0/127 = 0

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 Example one
– With z/a =2 and r/a=0, determine stresses, deflection and then strains

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 Example one
– With z/a =2 and r/a=0, determine stresses, deflection and then strains

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 Class work
The following figure shows a homogeneous half-
space subjected to two circular loads, each 254 in
diameter and spaced at 508mm on centers. The
pressure on the circular load is 345kpa. The half-
space had elastic modulus 69Mpa and Poisson
ratio 0.5. determine the vertical stress, strain and
deflection at point A which is located 254mm
below the center of one circle
Determine deflection
at the pavement surface.

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 Class work
 Given:
– Load, P = ???
– Pressure, q = 345 kPa
– E = 69Mpa
– a = 254*0.5 = 152mm
– Poisons ratio [v] = 0.5
 Find:
– σz , σr , σt and w @z= 254 mm & r= 0 mm and r = 508mm
– First, we need to calculate z/a and r/a:
–Left Loading –Right loading
–z/a = 254/152 = 2 –z/a = 254/152 = 2
–r/a = 0/152 = 0 –r/a = 0/152 = 4

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 Class work

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 Example Two
 Given:
– Load, P = 40 kN
– Pressure, q = 552 kPa
– E = 110Mpa
– Poisons ratio [v] = 0.5
 Find:
– σz , σr , σt and w @z= 152 mm & r= 152 mm
– First, we need to calculate the radius:
P 40 40000
q  a
A a 2
 * 0.552
 152mm
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 Example ….cont’d
z/a = 1 & r/a = 1
Hence, from the fig.

 z
x100  33
q
552
  z
x33  182 kPa
100
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 Example …….Cont’d
 From the fig,

From the fig, F= 0.8 and the deflection can be computed by the
following equation:-

Also determine the strains due to loading

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 Example……Cont’d
Strains due to loading can be calculated
directly by substituting stress values in strain
equations.

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 Example two

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 Example two….Cont’d

Vertical deflection due to circular loading (Foster and Ahlvin, 1954)

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 Example three

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TWO LAYERED SYSTEMS
 Example on Vertical Stress
• A circular load having radius 152 mm and uniform
pressure 552 kPa is applied on a two-layer system, as
shown in Figure . The subgrade has elastic modulus 35
Mpa and can support a maximum vertical stress of 55
kPa. If the HMA has elastic modulus 3 .45 GPa, what is
the required thickness of a full-depth pavement?
• If a thin surface treatment is applied on a granular base
with elastic modulus 173 MPa, what is the thickness of base
course required ?

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FIGURE 2 .1 5 Vertical interface stresses for
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two-layer systems . (After Huang (1969b)
23
.)
 Example on Vertical Stress
Determine the pavement thickness h1

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 Vertical Surface Deflection
A total load of 89 kN was applied on the surface of a
two-layer system through a rigid plate 305 mm in
diameter, as shown in Figure. Layer 1 has a
thickness of 203mm and layer 2 has an elastic
modulus of 44.2 MPa. Both layers are
incompressible with a Poisson ratio of 0.5. If the
deflection of the plate is 2.54 mm, determine the
elastic modulus of layer 1.

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Solution:

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 Example on surface deflections

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 Example on Interface deflection
• The following figure shows a set of dual tires, each having
contact radius 115 mm and contact
pressure 483 kPa. The center-to-center spacing of the dual is
343 mm. Layer 1 has thickness 152 mm and elastic modulus
690 MPa; layer 2 has elastic modulus 69 MPa. Determine
the vertical deflection at point A, which is on the interface
beneath the center of one loaded area.

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 Example on Interface deflection
 Determine the interface deflection, w

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 Example on critical strain
The following Figure shows a full-depth asphalt
pavement 203 mm thick subjected to a single-wheel
load of 40 kN having contact pressure 467 kPa. If
the elastic modulus of the asphalt layer is 1 .04 GPa
and that of the subgrade is 104 MPa, determine the
critical tensile strain in the asphalt layer

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 Strain factor for single wheel . (After Huang (1973a) .)
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 Example on critical strain

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Three-layer System
 Cont’d
 Four sets of stress factors i.e., ZZ1, ZZ2, ZZ1-RR1 and
ZZ2-RR2, are shown. The product of contact pressure
and the stress factor gives the stress

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 Strains
 Note that, on the axis of symmetry, tangential and
radial stresses are identical and the shear stress is
zero.
 When Poisson ratio is 0.5 and σr = σt,

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 Jones table

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 Jones table Cont’d

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 Examples on three layer system
1. Given the three layer system shown in the following figure
with a = 122mm, q = 828kpa, h1 = 152mm, h2 = 152mm, E1 =
2.8Gpa, E2 = 138Mpa and E3 = 69Mpa, determine all the
stresses and strains at the two interfaces on the axis of
symmetry.

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 Cont’d
Solution:-

From the Jones table,

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 Cont’d

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 Cont’d
 The radial stress can be obtained from the following
formula:-

Note that, the negative sign indicates tensile stress

The vertical and radial strains can be calculated by
applying the following formula :-

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 Cont’d
 Therefore, at the bottom of the first layer, the
vertical and the radial strain will be:-

Exercise: - similarly, compute the vertical and the

radial strains at the bottom of layer two and at the top
of layer three

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Example Problems
1. Calculate the surface deflection under the centre of a tyre (a = 152 mm, p =552
kPa) for a 305 mm pavement having a 345 MPa modulus and subgrade
modulus of 69 MPa from two-layer theory. Also calculate the interface
deflection and the deflection that takes place within the pavement layer
2. A circular load with a radius of 152 mm and a uniform pressure of 552 kPa
is applied on a two-layer system. The subgrade has an elastic modulus of
35 kPa and can support a maximum vertical stress of 55 kPa. What is the
required thickness of full depth AC pavement, if AC has an elastic modulus
of 3.45 GPa. Instead of a full depth AC pavement, if a thin surface treatment is
applied on a granular base (with elastic modulus of 173 MPa), what is the
thickness of base course required?
3. A plate bearing test using 750 mm diameter rigid plate was made on a
subgrade as well as on 254 mm of gravel base course. The unit load
required to cause settlement of 5 mm was 69 kPa and 276 kPa,
respectively. Determine the required thickness of base course to sustain a
222.5 kN tyre, 690 kPa pressure and maintain a deflection of 5 mm.

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