Determination of the Small-Scale Physical Model Parameters of Pavement Structure

Abstract

A large amount of the local and first-class road infrastructures in Central Europe lead through settled areas, such as villages or even historical cities and town centers. The vibrations generated by passing vehicles around the pavement spread to the subgrade to the environment and also affect civil engineering structures and buildings. We have decided to adopt the approach of small-scale modeling of the pavement with the subgrade. Small-scale physical modeling brings benefits, such as size reduction, simplification, or controlled conditions during the test. To study the effect of static and dynamic behavior during the occurrence, a simulation mass physical model is used for testing. A static plate load test is used to determine the bearing capacity and settlement and consistency of measurement of the plate’s vertical movement at a given load acting on the plate. The aim of the mass surface simulation’s dynamic testing was to measure the response in time acceleration forms. Based on the performed experimental measurements undertaken on the physical model as well as the numerical simulation performed in FEM, we can state that the gelatin-based simulation mass is usable for the simulation of the earth environment in contact with building structures.