| Accurate prediction of pavement temperature profile is essential to better characterize the mechanistic properties of paving materials and predict pavement responses under traffic and environmental loadings. In practice, characterizing the field temperature profiles are desired in order to calculate the moduli of various pavement layers, analyze Falling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) testing data, as well as assess the load transfer efficiency across joints in concrete pavements.;To facilitate estimation of pavement temperature profiles, one-dimensional (1-D) analytical solutions for temperature profiles in multi-layered pavements have been derived using the method of separation of variables and the Laplace transforms. The derived theoretical solutions consider the pavement geometries, material thermal properties, solar radiation, and air temperature. Field validation justified that these analytical solutions generate reasonable temperature profiles in the concrete slab of a four-layered continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) test section. The main advantages of these solutions are that they can rapidly predict the pavement temperature profile for short time durations, e.g., a few days, with limited input data. Under the assumption of axisymmetric thermal conditions, analytical solution for two-dimensional (2-D) temperature profiles in a multi-layered pavement system has been derived using the Hankel transform and the method of separation of variables, and validated for predicting the temperature profile in the concrete slab of a four-layered CRCP test section.;Finally, rapidly varying temperature profiles in pavement systems due to transient thermal loadings generated by vertical take-off aircraft engines are systematically studied. 1-D analytical solutions for temperature fields in a two-layered pavement system using Laplace transforms are proposed for two different surface boundary conditions, i.e., specified transient surface temperature and mixed boundary condition involving heat flux emanating from the aircraft engine. Furthermore, 2-D axisymmetric temperature field in a homogeneous half-space subjected to transient thermal loading was solved under the specified surface temperature condition. Two solution methods, one based on the Hankel transforms and the method of separation of variables while another based on the Hankel and Laplace transforms, were introduced. Numerical experiments suggest that the combined results based on those two methods give reasonable approximation to the rapidly varying temperature profile. |
