An object-oriented system for finite element analysis of pavements

Abstract

A New computational system was developed to be used in pavement analysis and research. The system is based on the Finite Element Method and is implemented using Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) techniques to make it easily extendable. It contains both 2D (axisymmetric, plane strain and plane stress) and 3D models and works with different element shapes (triangular, quadrilateral, bricks, etc.) and different interpolation orders (linear and quadratic). It provides an efficient and accurate modeling of diverse mechanical loading, including time-dependent loads. Finally, the system provides a variety of numerical algorithms to nonlinear and time-dependent analysis, as well as a set of constitutive models used in the modeling of flexible pavements. In the paper, the class hierarchyof the system is presented and its main features are thoroughly discussed.