Experimental and computational dynamic analysis of the foam concrete as a sub-base layer of the pavement structure

Abstract

Dynamic properties of the new materials represent the actual problem, which is solved at many departments in the world at this time. Foam concrete (FC) is a material that has wide application in the civil engineering structures. Currently, it's mainly used in the floor structures of the buildings but its usability can be much wider thanks to its specific properties. The foam concrete contains closed air pores, what achieves its low volume weight (density) and saving of material inputs. It's a building material with good mechanical properties and low thermal conductivity and at the same time with high-tech processing. Nowadays, a research aimed at the application of the foam concrete in the pavement structures takes place at the University of Zilina. Foam concrete could be utilized as a sub-base layer at the road reconstructions, excavations or as a regular layer of the new constructed pavements. The submitted paper is dedicated to the numerical simulation based on the Finite element method (FEM) in pursuance of the outputs of the experimental investigation of the dynamic effect on the pavement structure which contains the foam concrete layer. Obtained dynamic parameters will be a background for the pavement design using the foam concrete.