Investigation on the high-temperature rutting failure of asphalt pavement structures under the combined effect of measured temperature and applied load

The semi-rigid base pavement in the Jiayuguan area experiences significant challenges, particularly rutting deformation resulting from the combined effects of high-temperature weather and vehicle loads. By collecting meteorological data from the Jiayuguan area and inputting 24-hour temperature and solar radiation values during summer high-temperature periods, a solid heat transfer physical field and a surface radiation physical field were established to analyze the temperature distribution within the pavement structure. Two typical pavement materials, AC-16 and SMA-16, were selected as asphalt surface materials, with numerical simulations performed using the finite element software COMSOL Multiphysics to study asphalt pavement under combined environmental and vehicle loading conditions. Considering the temperature-dependent properties of asphalt mixtures (e.g., elastic modulus, creep coefficient), solid mechanical physical fields and vehicle load models were developed to estimate the mechanical response and rutting deformation of asphalt pavement under continuous temperature and load coupling conditions. The results indicate that the daily road surface temperature variation reaches 33.89°C, significantly impacting the material properties of asphalt mixtures. Under the combined effects of temperature and load, the mechanical response trends for pavements with AC-16 and SMA-16 surface materials are similar. Maximum vertical deformation, shear creep, and compressive creep all occur within the top 0–4 cm pavement depth, alternating between positive and negative across the transverse direction of the pavement. Compared to AC-16, SMA-16 exhibits reductions of 63.4 %, 22.4 %, 42.89 %, 45.29 %, 46.85 % and 27.19 % in positive and negative vertical deformations, making SMA-16 more suitable for enhancing the rutting resistance of asphalt pavement.