The Effect of Geosynthetic Reinforcement on the Damage Propagation Rate of Asphalt Pavements

There are several approaches for modeling the fatigue life and damage of asphalt pavements, such as stress-strain arid damage mechanics. In this research, a simple mechanistic approach is used to explain the destruction of asphalt pavements. For asphalt reinforcement, two types of geosynthetic were used in the airfield at Imam Khomeini airport, Tehran. Non-reinforced, reinforced with a geogrid and geotextile specimens with dimensions 0/50x63x381 mm -were obtained from the asphalt slab field section. Fatigue tests of this study have been conducted with a four point beam test and a fatigue load with a half-sin wave at a frequency of 10 cycle/sec (no rest period), has been used. The results indicated, that specimens reinforced with geosynthetics exhibit a, higher initial stiffness module and lower crack propagation rate than non-reinforced specimens.