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Abstract

Nowadays, road pavements are subjected to steadily increasing traffic volumes generating accelerated functional and structural distresses that require frequent and expensive maintenance. On the basis of such needs, in recent years, practical applications and theoretical studies have proved that the service life of flexible pavements can be extended by installing geosynthetic reinforcements. In particular, grids can be placed at the interface of bituminous layers for both new constructions and rehabilitation of existing pavements, in order to improve repeated loading and rutting resistance and to prevent or delay reflective cracking. However, the presence of an interlayer reinforcement may also hinder the full transmission of horizontal shear stress between asphalt layers (debonding effect), penalizing the overall efficiency of the pavement system. For the above-mentioned reasons, both laboratory and in situ investigation are needed in order to better understand the real role played by the grid reinforcement. The achievement of such objective is the main goal of the RILEM TC 237-SIB/TG4 that carried out an interlaboratory experiment focused on the “Advanced Interface Testing of Geogrids in Asphalt Pavements”. In this context, the participating laboratories were involved with a twofold objective: to compare the predictive effectiveness of different experimental approaches and to analyze the behavior of different grid types. For this purpose, two experimental reinforced pavement sections were realized with the same materials and construction techniques. The first pavement section was used to prepare samples for the interlaboratory experiment, the second one was specifically designed and instrumented to analyze the field performance of the grids under heavy traffic conditions. The objective is the characterization of the mechanical behavior of grid reinforced interfaces in asphalt concrete pavements using different test methodologies and the analysis of the relationship between laboratory test results and actual field performance. To this purpose, the laboratory research activities were based on the analysis and comparison of the results obtained following specific testing protocols proposed by the participating laboratories that combine performance-based tests (e.g. interlayer shear tests, static and dynamic bending tests, tensile-bending tests), in order to investigate the overall behavior of double-layered asphalt systems. The role of the instrumented pavement section was complementary and oriented towards an improvement in the existing design and testing approaches. Such goal was attained by analyzing the actual stress-strain response of grid-reinforced systems under vehicular loads, also monitoring the natural and induced field cracking evolution. Despite the variety of the testing equipment and protocols adopted by the participating laboratories, all test results were consistent. Moreover, such experimental results contributed, together with the data analysis collected on the instrumented pavement section, to the correct understanding of the grids performance that were characterized by specific peculiarities making them appropriate for different applications.

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Abbreviations

α :

Slip parameter

c 0 :

Pure shear strength

D:

Diameter

δ r,0 :

Periodic recovered beam deflection amplitude

δ F :

Maximum pre-cracking flexural deflection

|E*|:

Norm of complex young’s modulus

E app :

Apparent stiffness modulus

ε r,app :

Apparent recovered strain

Φ peak :

Peak friction angle

H:

Height

I5, I10, I20:

ASTM toughness indices

\(N_{flex}^{i}\) :

Number of cycles at the flex point of interface type i

P 0 :

Haversine load amplitude

P F :

Maximum pre-cracking flexural load

σ app :

Apparent stress

σ n :

Vertical stress

T :

Temperature

τ :

Interlayer shear stress

τ peak :

Interlayer shear strength

T ref :

Reference temperature

3PB :

Three-point bending

4PB :

Four-point bending

AC:

Asphalt concrete

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

ASG:

Asphalt strain gage

ASTM:

America society for testing and materials

ASTRA:

Ancona shear testing research and analysis

CBR:

California bearing ratio

CF:

Carbon fiber/glass fiber

DCP:

Dynamic cone penetrometer

GB:

Granular base

Empa:

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology

EN:

European norm

EPC:

Earth pressure cell

FP:

Glass fiber reinforced polymer

FWD :

Falling weight deflectometer

IBDiM:

Road and Bridge Research Institute

IF :

Improvement factor

IFSTTAR:

Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports, de l’aménagement et des réseaux

ISS :

Interlayer shear strength

ITSM:

Indirect tensile stiffness modulus

LET :

Layered elastic theory

LFWD:

Light falling weight deflectometer

LPDS:

Layer-parallel direct shear

LVDT:

Linear variable differential transformer

MMLS:

Model mobile load simulator

MMLS3:

One-third scale model mobile load simulator

SBS:

Styrene-butadiene-styrene

SDSTM:

Sapienza direct shear test machine

SIB:

Sustainable and innovative bituminous materials and systems

ST:

Shear tester

PA:

Porous asphalt

RILEM:

International Union of Laboratories and Experts in Construction Materials, Systems and Structures

TC:

Technical committee

TG:

Task group

UN:

Unreinforced

UNIBO:

Università di Bologna

UNIVPM:

Università Politecnica delle Marche

UNIRM:

Università di Roma “Sapienza”

USCS:

Unified soil classification system

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Canestrari, F. et al. (2018). Advanced Interface Testing of Grids in Asphalt Pavements. In: Partl, M., Porot, L., Di Benedetto, H., Canestrari, F., Marsac, P., Tebaldi, G. (eds) Testing and Characterization of Sustainable Innovative Bituminous Materials and Systems. RILEM State-of-the-Art Reports, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71023-5_4

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