Geogrid reinforcing of recycled aggregate materials for road construction finite element investigation

Abstract

Economic advantages and environmental benefits encourage the use of recycled materials for road construction. Usually, however, these materials have lower stiffness and strength characteristics than typically used natural materials. Because of these inferior material properties, use of recycled aggregate materials for unbound road base construction may result in increased rutting, differential settlement, and reflective crack propagation. Placement of reinforcement between the underlying soil layer and the aggregate layer has been proposed to improve the load-carrying capacity of road bases constructed from recycled aggregate materials. To investigate the viability of such an approach, finite element analyses were performed of asphalt concrete pavements with base layers consisting of reinforced unbound recycled aggregate materials. The response of such pavements was compared with that of pavements consisting of unreinforced natural aggregates. The criteria chosen for comparison were the influence of the material characteristics of the recycled aggregate and the reinforcement on the development and speed of propagation of reflective cracking in the body of the pavement. Various combinations of reinforcement and aggregate material characteristics were simulated. It was concluded that the placing of reinforcement can reduce the speed of crack propagation into the top layer, improve load spreading in the unbound base layer, and prolong the economic life of the construction.