Revista de Ingeniería Civil y Ambiental

Investigation of Performance of Glass Fibre Impregnated with Bitumen Emulsion against Reflective Cracking

Abstract

Ogundipe Olumide Moses

The study investigates the use of glass fibre impregnated with bitumen emulsion with 6mm aggregates compacted on it as a Stress Absorbing Membrane Interlayer (SAMI) to retard reflective cracking. The causes and mechanism of reflective cracking in an overlay over a cracked pavement were highlighted. Tests were carried out in a wheel tracking facility to induce modes I and II cracking. The effects of temperature, load level, composition of SAMI and overlay thickness on the performance of the SAMIs were evaluated. It was found that the two SAMIs investigated in this study were both able to retard reflective cracking. Better relative performance was observed with low overlay thickness and at high load level. Also, the study showed that temperature influenced the performance of the SAMIs and indicated that difference in the viscosity of the bitumen emulsion used in the SAMIs led to difference in performance. It was observed that the interface shear strain of the overlay-SAMI interface influenced the performance of the SAMI.