FEM Analysis of Mitigating Fatigue-Induced Reflective Cracking in Asphalt Pavements Using Geotextiles

To quantitatively analyze mitigation of fatigue-induced reflective cracking in asphalt pavement through geotextiles, impact of geotextile on stress and strain distribution in asphalt layer, stress and strain distribution in geotextile were calculated using FEM.Then variety in fatigue life of pavement was quantitatively researched.Fatigue life of asphalt layer is extended because tensile stress in bottoms of asphalt layer is reduced prominently by geotextile.The bigger geotextile elastic modulus is, the more tensile stress in bottoms of asphalt layer reduces, and the longer fatigue life of pavement extends.Stress distributes over about 12 cm in geotextile above base crack, and the magnitude of stress is far lower than geotextile tensile strength. It is an effective method to use geotextile for mitigating fatigue-induced reflective cracking in asphalt pavement.In practice, elastic modulus corresponding with the potential maximum stress should be considered when choosing getextile.