Application of the Laplace Transform and Its Numerical Inversion to Temperature Profile of a Two-Layer Pavement under Site Conditions

Abstract

The mechanical performance of asphalt pavements is closely related to temperature. On the basis of the Laplace transform, this article presents a method to determine dynamic temperature profiles of pavements under site conditions such as location, air temperature, cloud cover, time of day, day of year, material parameters. The main advantages of the present method are no time steps are needed, and unconditional numerical stability, and rapid convergence. By using the present method, we can separate temperature profile analysis with the followed stress and deformation analysis, which will benefit pavement design.

The authors wish to thank Dr. Luiz Carlos Martinelli Jr. at the Northwest Regional University of South Rio Grande State, Brazil for supplying the air temperature data.

Notes

The value of h _c is corresponding to an average wind velocity of 11.6 km/h [41].