Abstract:

In APEJ (Asphalt Plug Expansion Joint) pavement,the interface is the weakest link in the whole structure.In this paper,the material parameters of each part of the expansion joint were determined,and,by se- lecting the maximum axle load (140 kN) of road-grade I as the calculating load,a finite element model of the pavement was established with ANSYS.Then,the interfacial indexes were calculated under 4 kinds of loads,and the corresponding interfacial controlling indexes were extracted.Finally,the effects of expansion joint mixture's modulus,interfacial friction coefficient,interfacial elevation difference,horizontal force and tire contact pressure on the interfacial controlling indexes were analyzed.The results show that (1) the interfacial controlling indexes include the tensile stress,the shear stress and the interfacial vertical displacement; (2) both the horizontal force and the tire contact pressure have a great influence on the interfacial tensile stress and shear stress,while the mo- dulus ratio,the horizontal force,the tire contact pressure exert a great influence on the vertical displacement of the interface; (3) such measures as choosing expansion joint mixture with great modulus,coarsing the interface，set- ting small interfacial elevation difference，preventing urgent starting or braking on the expansion pavement and avoiding overload are all effective in preventing the interface from damage.

Key words: road engineering, asphalt plug expansion joint, interfacial controlling index, stress, deformation