Stone pavements, very often used in urban squares, combine aesthetic values with functionality, ensuring durability over a very long service life. The loads acting on these types of pavements are slightly different than in the case of typical road structures and include pedestrian traffic and limited vehicle traffic. The paper presents an analysis of the stress and displacement state of an exemplary rigid pavement structure made of granite slabs. A problem of a slab resting on a multi-layered elastic half-space was formulated and then solved using the finite element method. The results were compared with the analytical solution proposed by H. M. Westergaard.
Urban space is not only intensive development, but also a set of streets and urban squares that determine the character of the entire city. The presence of public spaces in it enables not only efficient movement, but also entertainment and recreation. New arrangements of urban squares very often require the introduction of a new pavement over the entire area. Such a procedure simultaneously requires integrating the newly created square with the surrounding historical buildings by relating the form to the adjacent space. Unfortunately, neither bituminous pavement nor concrete pavement will provide such an effect, and it is achieved by using stone pavement.
Within urban squares, vehicular traffic is limited, but it can never be completely excluded. Furthermore, exceptional traffic loads must be taken into account, an example of which is the load from public service vehicles. (…)
The article contains 14893 characters.
Source: Logistics Magazine
Rigid pavement, elastic subgrade, traffic loads, FEM – PDF file for download