Mesh-free shakedown analysis of purely cohesive half-space subjected to moving surface loads

Shakedown solutions provide safety margins for design of roads pavements subjected to surface traffic loads. It is a strong tool to compute the maximum admissible load against all possible failure scenarios of pavement structures. In this paper, the shakedown of a homogenous and isotropic cohesive half-space under repeated variable loads is appropriately traced by using mesh-free discretization technique, Melan’s lower bound shakedown theorem and linear programming. The pavement structure is idealized to be plane strain and the contact forces due to moving car are approximated by Hertz load distribution. The accuracy and efficiency of suggested computational method is showed by comparing between the afforded results and previous similar researches.

Mesh-free shakedown analysis of purely cohesive half-space subjected to moving surface loads Keywords:

shakedown analysis , pavement design , moving traffic loads , Mesh-free method , Melan’s theorem