In Malaysia, it is a common practise to use a 40 mm thick Asphaltic Concrete overlays designed using Marshall procedures in pavement rehabilitation. However, field studies carried out by !KRAM on this practise showed that the overlays suffered from cracks very early in its service life. It has also been shown that these cracks were reflections of cracks found on the existing pavements. The reflection of the cracks occurred when the stresses created by the movements of the existing cracks created cracks in the new layer. Many methods have been tried by various researchers in trying to eliminate this occurrence, and the use of geosynthetic materials as interlayers can be a solution to mitigate the rate of formation of reflective cracks. The interlayer in theory could dissipate the crack-tip stresses therefore reducing the rate of crack propagation and the amount of damage done to the overlays.
Menu