Enhanced model for thermally induced transverse cracking of asphalt pavements

摘要

Thermal cracking is a non-load associated distress mode of asphalt pavements. Finite element models (FEM) were first introduced in this study to determine the thermally induced J-integral at the tip of thermal crack. After extensive runs of the FEM, artificial neural network models were constructed to predict the J-integral, which was used in the Paris' law to calculate the cumulative thermal crack growth over time and thermal cracking fatigue life. Additionally, Long-term pavement performance data was collected to characterize the thermal cracking in different climatic zones. The calculated fatigue life was well correlated with the observed transverse cracking field performance. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.