Reliability-Based Pavement Analysis Using Stochastic Finite Element

Abstract

Due to the variations of the material properties and construction in pavement engineering, pavement responses under vehicle loading are stochastic. The use of stochastic approach in the pavement analysis is more reasonable. The purpose of this study is to develop a perturbation stochastic finite element program in the pavement analysis and the results are compared with the results of a Monte Carlo simulation approach. Then, the statistical data from the stochastic finite element analysis are incorporated with the reliability method to develop performance function models. The reliability-based performance models will be used for performance analysis of test pavement sections. The First Order Reliability Method (FORM) is used to compute the factor of reliability for rutting and fatigue cracking of pavement. The results of these analyses can be used to study pavement performance reliability.