Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Asphalt Pavement Behaviour, Taking into Account Interface Bonding Conditions

The interface bond between layers plays an important role in the behavior of pavement structure. However, this aspect has not yet been adequately considered in the pavement analysis process due to the lack of advanced characterizations of actual condition. In many pavement design procedures, only completely bonded or unbounded interfaces between the layers are considered. For the purpose of the better evaluation of the asphalt pavement behavior, this work focused on its investigation taking into account the actual interface bonding condition between the asphalt layers. Based on the layered theory developed by Burmister (1943), the actual interaction between pavement layers was taken into account by introducing a horizontal shear reaction modulus which represents the interface bonding condition for a given state. The analytical solution was then implemented in a numerical program before doing forward calculations for sensitivity analysis which highlights the influence of the interface bonding conditions on the structural behaviors of asphalt pavement under a static load. Furthermore, the numerical program was applied through an original experimental case study where falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests were carried out on two full-scale pavement structures with or without a geogrid at the interface between the asphalt layers. Backcalculations of the FWD measurements allowed determining field condition of the interface bond between the asphalt layers. The obtained values of the interface shear modulus in pavement structure with a geogrid are smaller than the ones in pavement structure without geogrid. Moreover, all of these values representing field performance are at the same order of magnitude as those from dynamic interlayer shear testing.

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