Effect of geotextile on reduction of reflective cracking induced by traffic load in asphalt concrete

Cracks appear in the early cement stabilisation base due to shrinkage. Pavement service life is reduced by the reflecting cracks under load coupled with environment. Geosynthetics can be used as an effective anti-reflective crack material to improve the asphalt concrete performance. Related studies mainly focus on the optimal material type and placement location of geosynthetics. However, the mechanism research of anti-crack propagation is limited and needs further investigation. The methods used to date are hard to reveal the anti-reflective crack mechanism of geosythetics. Therefore, geosynthetic materials cannot be used appropriately. Propagation and resistance characteristics of traffic induced reflective cracks with geotextile placed in the asphalt layer was investigated using extended finite element model. The effects of geotextile placement and tensile modulus were also investigated. Compared with other zones, the geotextile stress over the crack was significantly larger. The geotextile absorbed 15% of the total stress in the asphalt surface layer. The crack propagation stages and final crack length was separate when tensile modulus of geotextile reached 50 MPa. The geotextile with 100 MPa tensile modulus was found to produce the optimal effect on preventing crack. Geotextile placed at a quarter depth of the asphalt layer from the bottom had the best crack resistance.