Multi-scale FE analysis of coupled load-moisture mechanical behavior of saturated asphalt pavements considering transversely isotropic permeability

Assessing the collective impacts of external loading and void pressure on the mechanical behavior of porous media presents a significant challenge due to its inherent heterogeneity and complex multi-physical field coupling mechanisms. This study addresses this challenge by developing a novel multiscale hydraulic-mechanical modeling framework to investigate the structural response of water-saturated asphalt pavement under sequential coupling hydro-mechanical loading. The framework comprises three key components. Firstly, incorporating an upscaling homogenization approach to establish the linkage of material properties between different scales; secondly, developing a downscaling transfer procedure to transfer the structural response across scales for insight into its multiphysics mechanisms; and finally, proposing a new sequential coupling algorithm in multiscale simulations for comprehensive multi-field coupling calculations. The primary outcomes of this study demonstrate that asphalt concrete (AC)-graded pavements are susceptible to “down-top” cracks under hydro-mechanical loading, while open graded friction course (OGFC)-graded pavements have the potential to develop both “top-down” and “down-top” cracks. In AC-graded pavements, increasing the hydraulic head reduces stress concentrations, while in OGFC-graded pavements, changes in the permeability coefficient have a lesser impact on mechanical response. At the mesoscopic level, tensile stress concentrations in the asphalt mortar decrease significantly at higher temperatures. Furthermore, the OGFC-graded RVE model exhibits higher tensile stresses in the asphalt mortar compared to the AC-graded RVE model.