Mechanical behaviour of surface layer fibreglass-reinforced flexible pavements

Abstract

The work presented in this paper aims at providing a better understanding of the mechanical response of surface layer fibreglass-reinforced flexible pavements. The surface reinforcement technique consists of installing a fibreglass grid in between the levelling layer (placed on the base course to seal and level the pre-existing distresses) and the wearing course (or overlay). Flexural fracture tests were performed on two-layered reinforced asphalt specimens composed of both levelling and wearing courses to simulate a real overlay structure. Three fibreglass grids characterised by different mechanical and/or geometrical properties were employed. Strain localisation and damage distribution were investigated using an in-house digital image correlation system capable of achieving highly accurate 2D full-field strain maps of the specimens during loading. Finally, an analytical model was developed on purpose to reproduce the mechanical response of the asphalt mixture-interlayer system.

Keywords::

• flexible pavements
• fibreglass grid reinforcement
• reflective cracking
• digital image correlation
• analytical investigation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Saint Gobain for financial support. The authors are also grateful to Dr Fabio Capanelli of the Valli Zabban Company and Antonio Varoli of the SIP company for providing asphalt materials.

Notes

^1. Email: [email protected]

^2. Email: [email protected]