Shakedown analysis of pavement structures based on lower bound theorem

Present design method based on the elastic theory and experience is unreasonable while used to evaluate the safety of pavement structure.Shakedown theory can provide theoretical basis for bearing capacity analysis of pavements under complex loading.Based on the lower bound theorem of shakedown,a method for shakedown analysis of pavements has been presented.By applying the shakedown analysis of pavement,influence of load distribution,structural configuration,material properties of pavements on shakedown bearing limit are obtained.The analytical results show that the proposed method is valid for analyzing the pavement structure.Therefore,shakedown theorem can provide a useful tool for analysis and design of pavements.