Response analysis of orthotropic steel deck pavement based on interlayer contact bonding condition

In this research the interlayer contact condition was considered between the adjacent layers of orthotropic steel deck pavement, and an interface contact bonding model was applied to simulate the interlayer bonding condition and evaluate the response of deck pavement under vehicle loads. An advantage of this model is that it can simulate not only the full-bond condition but also the debonding condition at somewhere between adjacent layers. The responses of the orthotropic steel deck pavement were calculated and analyzed by the model, and it found that this model is reasonable and credible to evaluate the responses of the deck pavement comparing with the previous researches. The full-bond condition was an ideal condition between adjacent layers, which was prone to underestimate the responses and deformation of the deck pavement. Moreover, the position and size of the disengaging area have a notable influence on the tensile strain at the top of SMA layer and the bottom of GA layer, and the tensile strain of them also increase with the increase of the disengaging area. Finally, the responses of the steel deck pavement changed obviously when the vehicle speed increase, so the suitable speed limit may reduce the responses and deformation for prolonging the service life of the orthotropic steel deck pavement.