Theoretical analysis of stone pavers in pedestrian areas

This paper compared two approaches used to analyze a modular pedestrian pavement made of hexagonal basalt pavers. In presence of occasional heavy traffic roads, the pavement should be verified using methods currently used for road pavements. Different loading conditions were examined varying the geometry of the blocks, and the magnitude of the vertical load. In all cases, the results obtained from the analytical theory of Westergaard were higher than those obtained from a finite element model (FEM). Therefore, a parametric study was performed in order to use the analytical method as an alternative to the costly FEM approach. The results of comparison gave a correction factor, valid for hexagonal pavers: it permits to analytically estimate with good approximation the stresses induced by heavy loads applied to natural stone blocks.