Three-Dimensional Fatigue Simulation of RC Slabs under Traveling Wheel-Type Loads

A direct path-integral scheme with fatigue constitutive models for concrete tension, compression and rough crack shear is used to predict the life-cycle of RC slabs. The three-dimensional fatigue analysis successfully predicts the characteristic mode of failure under moving loads as well as in the case of fixed-point pulsation in shear. Importantly, drastically shortened fatigue life under traveling wheel-type loads is mechanically demonstrated by implementing a constitutive model of cracked concrete using a direct path-integral method of fatigue damage simulation. A sensitivity study is carried out to clarify the influence of shear transfer decay and compression fatigue on RC slab performance. The effect of boundary conditions on fatigue life is also investigated.