Hire an Illini
Jaime Alberto Hernandez-Urrea
- Advisor:
- Imad Al-Qadi
- Departments:
- Areas of Expertise:
- Pavement Instrumentation
- Finite element modeling
- Tire-pavement interaction
- Pavement Analysis
- Thesis Title:
- Contact Stress Prediction between Deformable Tires and Pavements at Various Operating Conditions Using a Validated Finite Element Model
- Thesis abstract:
- Even though continuous improvements have been seen in the analysis of flexible pavements, one of the most important factors is still oversimplified: The tire. This can result in costly decisions, such as poor structural road design, incorrect damage prediction, and inappropriate adoption of maintenance/rehabilitation techniques. The main contribution of this research lies in the evaluation of tire and pavement as a semi-coupled system, assuming both are deformable bodies, while focusing on contact stresses. In addition to load and tire inflation pressure, temperature, speed, and rolling conditions will be considered. A series of necessary advancements in the tire model such as appropriate material characterization (hyperelastic and visco-hyperelastic), accurate geometry, and model validation using experimental measurements will be implemented in this study. This research will provide state departments of transportation, pavement engineers, and researchers with the information needed to decide whether or not to improve their assumptions when analyzing flexible pavements. Furthermore, the study will establish the baseline for addressing related problems such as pavement contribution to fuel consumption, evaluation of tire-design parameters on pavement damage, impact of emerging tire technologies on road infrastructure, and prediction of pavement damage.
- Downloads:
Contact information:
hrnndzr2@illinois.edu