Mechanical Analysis of Preventing Reflection Cracks Based on Stress Absorbing Layer

After asphalt concrete overlay, the reflection crack in the old pavement remains a great challenge. In order to overcome this problem, here, we report the effect of stress absorbing layer on the reflection crack. First, the concrete measures to prevent and reduce reflection cracks at home and abroad are analyzed. Then, the mechanism of the generation and development of reflection cracks is studied, the functional characteristics of stress absorbing layer are analyzed, and the principle of antireflection crack is clarified. Further, the effects of modulus thickness and porosity of stress absorbing layer on the stress of pavement structure layer are discussed. Finally, the effect of the stress absorbing layer on preventing reflective cracks is analyzed by numerical simulation. The analyses show that the stress absorbing layer is a thin asphalt concrete layer with good fatigue resistance and low modulus between the old pavement and asphalt pavement, which delays the expansion of pavement reflection cracks. The stress absorbing layer should have high elasticity and low temperature flexibility, water damage resistance, and interlayer bonding. The simulation results suggest that the modulus of the stress absorbing layer should be 400 MPa∼600 MPa, and the thickness should be 1 cm∼2.5 cm. When the thickness of the stress absorption layer is 2.5 cm, the values of tensile stress σX, equivalent stress σMises and maximum shear stress τMax are 31.7%, 29.2%, and 25.7% lower than those of the layer without addition, respectively. The results demonstrate that the effect of stress reduction is obvious, which plays an important role in preventing or reducing the occurrence of reflective cracks. The designed void ratio of the mixture is between 1% and 2.5% for the indoor permeability resistance test. We believe that these findings have certain guiding significance for theoretical analysis and engineering application of stress absorbing layer.

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