Methodology for calculating thermal stresses in the road surface on the metal slab of highway bridges

Introduction. The article presents a methodology for calculating thermal stresses in asphalt concrete road pavement on metal orthotropic highway bridges for durability. This methodology takes into account materials science and design approaches, which allows designing road pavement on metal highway bridges with increased crack resistance to the effects of annual and daily temperatures. Issues. Highway bridges are an important component of the transport network not only of cities, but also of the entire state. Every year, thousands of new vehicles appear in Ukraine, which leads to a change in the composition of traffic flows, an increase in load capacity and speed. In most European countries, restrictions have been introduced on the movement of heavy vehicles on the bridge deck design in order to ensure a longer service life of the pavement and structural elements of bridges, because the road pavement on metal highway bridges operates in more adverse conditions and, accordingly, higher requirements are imposed on it than on non-rigid road surfaces of highways. The road surface on metal road bridges must be resistant to cracking from temperature fluctuations. In connection with the listed conditions, there is an urgent need to develop an improved calculation method that would meet modern road construction requirements, contribute to increasing the durability of the road surface on metal road bridges, and ensure the rational use of economic resources.