Development of domain analysis for determining potential pavement damage

A new approach for quantifying flexible pavement damage potential is proposed. The new method, domain analysis, utilizes multiaxial results from advanced finite element models to calculate the response of flexible pavements to tire loading. The output is a single scalar value, which is unique to a given pavement structure and loading configuration. The ability of the domain analysis to quantify bulk damage potential and overcome flaws of conventional approaches based on point responses is demonstrated by testing three case studies: (1) comparison of typical loading conditions of dual-tire assembly (DTA), new-generation wide-base tire (NG-WBT), and steer tire; (2) effect of tire-inflation pressures; and (3) influence of differential tire-inflation pressure for DTA. The proposed method provides a direct link between three-dimensional contact stresses at the tire-pavement interface and three-dimensional responses of a loaded pavement structure. Also, the applicability of the domain analysis method could easily extend to other pavement structures, tire types and configurations, and loading conditions, along with considering other failure criteria.