Evaluation of deformations of the forest road pavements by using the Finite Element Method

Abstract

The deformations produced by trucks and other vehicles on the forest road pavements play a significant role for the sustainable forestry. For the determination was used the finite element method. Two types of forest trucks, namely Volvo FH 12.A60 and Mercedes – Actros 2646 were considered for analysis in this study. Surface force was determined and calculated along curb displacement values on the road. The objective of the present study is to analyse the deformations of forest road pavement made of three layers road structure as a function of traffic intensity and type of trucks which are running the forest roads. Based on the findings in this work it appears that the maximum displacement took place in the middle area of the contact surface between the road and wheel. The results indicate that the maximum residual deformations occurred after the passing of the rear wheel - axel 2. The residual deformations were noticed to be higher after the passing of the last wheel and the residual deformation could increase significantly. Data found in this work would be used for a better maintenance of forest road network and a sustainable forestry.