Similar articles

Abstract: top-down crack in asphalt pavements has been reported as a widespread mode of failure. A solid understanding of the mechanisms of crack growth is essential to predict pavement performance in the context of thickness design, as well as in the design and optimization of mixtures. Using the coupled element free Galerkin (EFG) and finite element (FE) method, top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements is numerically simulated on the basis of fracture mechanics. A parametric study is conducted to isolate the effects of overlay thickness and stiffness, base thickness and stiffness on top-down crack propagation in asphalt pavements. The results show that longitudinal wheel loads are disadvantageous to top-down crack because it increases the compound stress intensity factor (SIF) at the tip of top-down crack and shortens the crack path, and thus the fatigue life descends. The SIF experiences a process “sharply ascending—slowly descending—slowly ascending—sharply ascending again” with the crack propagating. The thicker the overlay or the base, the lower the SIF; the greater the overlay stiffness, the higher the SIF. The crack path is hardly affected by stiffness of the overlay and base.

[1] Belytschko, T., Lu, Y.Y., Gu, L., 1994. Element free Galerkin methods. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 37(2):229-256.

[2] Belytschko, T., Organ, D., Krongauz, Y., 1995. A coupled finite element-element free Galerkin method. Computational Mechanics, 17(3):186-195.

[3] Belytschko, T., Krongauz, Y., Organ, D., 1996. Meshless methods: an overview and recent developments. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 139(1-4):3-47.

[4] de Freitas, D., Paulo, P., Luis, P., Thomas, A., 2005. Effect of construction quality, temperature, and rutting on initiation of top-down cracking. Transportation Research Record, Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1929(1):174-182.

[5] Erdogan, F., Sih, G.C., 1963. On the crack extension in plates under plate loading and transverse shear. Journal of Basic Engineering, 85:519-525.

[6] Jacobs, M.M., 1995. Crack Growth in Asphalt Mix. MS Thesis, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Holand.

[7] Mao, C., Qiu, Y.J., Li, Y.P., 2004. Simulation of surface crack propagation in asphalt pavements and analysis of its influential factors. Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University, 39(4):437-441 (in Chinese).

[8] Myers, L.A., Roque, R., Birgisson, B., 2001. Propagation mechanisms for surface-initiated longitudinal wheelpath cracks. Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1778(1):113-122.

[9] Paris, P., Erdogan, F., 1963. A critical analysis of crack propagation laws. Journal of Basic Engineering, Series D, 85D(4):528-535.

[10] Rabczuk, T., Xiao, S.P., Sauer, M., 2006. Coupling of mesh-free methods with finite elements: basic concepts and test results. Communications in Numerical Methods in Engineering, 22(10):1031-1065.

[11] Sangpetngam, B., Birgisson, B., Roque, R., 2004. Multilayer boundary-element method for evaluating top-down cracking in hot-mix asphalt pavements. Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1896(1):129-137.

[12] Siddharthan, R.V., Yao, J., Sebaaly, P.E., 1998. Pavement strain from dynamic 3D load distribution. Journal of Transportation Engineering, 124(6):557-566.

[13] Song, S.H., Paulino, G.H., Buttlar, W.G., 2006. Simulation of crack propagation in asphalt concrete using an intrinsic cohesive zone model. Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 132(11):1215-1223.

[14] Svasdisant, T., Schorsch, M., Baladi, G.Y., Pinyosunun, S., 2002. Mechanistic analysis of top-down cracks in asphalt pavements. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1809(1):126-136.

[15] Wang, L.B., Myers, L.A., Mohammad, L.N., Fu, Y.R., 2003. Micromechanics study on top-down cracking. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 1853(1):121-133.

[16] Yang, X.X., Fan, J.Q., Kuang, Z.B., 1996. A contour integral method for stress intensity factors of mixed-mode crack. Computational Structural Mechanics and Applications, 13(1):84-86 (in Chinese).