Investigating top-down cracking of pavement in recycled waste plastic asphalt
Samuel ABEJIDE, Jacob ADEDEJI, Mohamed Mostafa Hassan Mostafa
Abstract. This study investigates a new approach for the use of an alternative sustainable wearing course material on flexible pavement roads (recycled asphalt plastic pavement). Highway infrastructure plays a major key role in the domestic transportation of people, goods and services within the community and from a national perspective. Thus, highway infrastructure provides provincial and local accessibility, which promotes the growth and development of the economy. For this reason, there is a need to develop a sustainable approach to increase the efficiency of transportation infrastructure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate top-down fatigue cracking failure mode of asphaltic wearing courses for use in in pavement overlays, at high traffic intersection points and on parking sections using dual tire loads in finite element analysis. The process of developing alternative mixing materials is initiated by the need to provide a stable mixture for use on field sections different from cold mix or conventional hot mix (HMA) materials, which is subjected to stripping delamination mode with increasing moisture content. In this study, it was observed that the bonds formed between the molten plastic material has the potential to bind the bitumen and the aggregates together as a homogenous material in such a way that, when hardened at reduced temperatures, the mix is able to form a stronger bonded material that is semipervious and allows drainage of moisture or water across the surface of the asphalt plastic layer. This study adopts an alternative approach to the design of an ultrathin film asphalt concrete porous pavement layer for use in pavement surface wearing course and high-density traffic roads considering the effects of increasing temperature and moisture absorption on the asphalt plastic pavement mix.
Keywords
Top-Down Cracking, Recycled Waste Plastic, Cracks, Potholes
Published online 2/25/2025, 13 pages
Copyright © 2025 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Samuel ABEJIDE, Jacob ADEDEJI, Mohamed Mostafa Hassan Mostafa, Investigating top-down cracking of pavement in recycled waste plastic asphalt, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 48, pp 1086-1098, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644903414-117
The article was published as article 117 of the book Civil and Environmental Engineering for Resilient, Smart and Sustainable Solutions
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
References
[1] Luo, X., Gu, F., Ling, M. and Lytton, R.L., (2018). Review of mechanistic-empirical modeling of top-down cracking in asphalt pavements. Construction and Building Materials, 191, pp.1053-1070. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.10.005
[2] Golden D., Fitzimons J., Doyle T. and Hayes D., presented in part at the OCEANS 2019 MTS/IEEE SEATTLE, Seattle, WA, USA, 27-31 Oct. 2019.
[3] Provenance, 2018. ‘Empowering the whole supply chain’, https://www.provenance.org/. Accessed 25 Jan 2024.
[4] Moorhouse, D. and Moorhouse, D., (2018). Designing a sustainable brand strategy for the fashion industry. Clothing Cultures, 5(1), pp.7-18. https://doi.org/10.1386/cc.5.1.7_2
[5] Munger, M. C. (2013). Everything You Know About Recycling is Wrong. In J. Kuznicki (Ed.), The Political Economy of Recycling.
[6] Golden D., Fitzimons J., Doyle T. and Hayes D., presented in part at the OCEANS 2019 MTS/IEEE SEATTLE, Seattle, WA, USA, 27-31 Oct. 2019.
[7] Nguyen T., (2020). Ghost fishing gear: A major source of marine plastic pollution. HillNotes – Libr. Parliam, https://hillnotes.ca/2020/01/30/ghost-fishing-gear-a-major-source-of-marine-plastic-pollution/, Accessed 25 Jan 2024.
[8] Nasrollahi, M., Beynaghi, A., Mohamady, F.M., Mozafari, M. (2020). Plastic Packaging, Recycling, and Sustainable Development. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Brandli, L., özuyar, P.G., Wall, T. (eds) Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95726-5_110. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95726-5_110
[9] Baier, D., Rausch, T.M. and Wagner, T.F., (2020). The drivers of sustainable apparel and sportswear consumption: A segmented kano perspective. Sustainability, 12(7), p.2788. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12072788
[10] Du Toit, J. and Wagner, C., (2018). The effect of a weekly comingled kerbside collection service on household recycling in a gated community in Pretoria, South Africa. Sustainability, 10(4), p.1207. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041207
[11] Struk, M., (2017). Distance and incentives matter: The separation of recyclable municipal waste. Resources, conservation and recycling, 122, pp.155-162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2017.01.023
[12] FHWA. 2000. “Hot-Mix Asphalt Paving Handbook: Project organization, mix design, and quality control” AC 150/5370-14A Appendix 1, 2000.
[13] FHWA. 2016. “FHWA asphalt mixture expert task group.” FHWA U.S. Department of Transportation, 2016.
[14] Sabouri, M., (2020). Evaluation of performance-based mix design for asphalt mixtures containing Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). Construction and Building Materials, 235, p.117545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117545
[15] Scullion, T. (2010). Balanced mix design report for Lufkin’s Crack Attenuating Mix (CAM), FHWA. U.S. Department of Transportation, FHWA/TX-10/5-5598-01-1, 2010.
[16] Zhou, F., Hu, S. and Scullion, T., (2006). Integrated asphalt (overlay) mixture design, balancing rutting and cracking requirements (No. FHWA/TX-06/0-5123-1). Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A & M University System.
[17] Newcomb D., and Zhou F. (2018). “Balanced design of asphalt mixtures.” Minnesota Department of Transportation, MnDOT, Final report MN/RC 2018-22, 2018.
[18] Buttlar, W.G., Meister, J.F., Jahangiri, B. and Majidifard, H., (2019). Performance characteristics of modern recycled asphalt mixes in Missouri, including ground tire rubber, recycled roofing shingles, and rejuvenators (No. cmr 19-002). Missouri. Department of Transportation. Construction and Materials Division.
[19] Saeedzadeh, R., (2016). Sustainability assessment of recycled asphalt mixtures in Texas (Doctoral dissertation).
[20] Weimin Song, Xinhui Zou, Hao Wu, Liang Zhou, Yinghua Zhou. Fracture properties of ultra-thin friction course mixture containing reclaimed asphalt pavement and glass fiber under monotonic and cyclic loading, Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, Volume 133, Part A, 2024, 104595, ISSN 0167-8442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tafmec.2024.104595
[21] Zhang, J., Sabouri, M., Guddati, M.N. and Kim, Y.R., (2013). Development of a failure criterion for asphalt mixtures under fatigue loading. Road Materials and Pavement Design, 14(sup2), pp.1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680629.2013.812843
[22] Sabouri, M. and Kim, Y.R., (2014). Development of a failure criterion for asphalt mixtures under different modes of fatigue loading. Transportation Research Record, 2447(1), pp.117-125. https://doi.org/10.3141/2447-13
[23] Ma, Z., Liu, L. and Sun, L., (2018). Investigation of top-down cracking performance of in-situ asphalt mixtures based on accelerated pavement testing and laboratory tests. Construction and Building Materials, 179, pp.277-284. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2018.05.165
[24] Francesco Canestrari, Lorenzo Paolo Ingrassia. 2020. A review of top-down cracking in asphalt pavements: Causes, models, experimental tools and future challenges, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition), Volume 7, Issue 5, 2020, Pages 541-572, ISSN 2095-7564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2020.08.002
[25] Information available on https://pavementinteractive.com
[26] Griffith A.A. 1920. Philosophical Transactions, Series A, Vol. 221, pp. 163-198, 1920. The importance of Griffith’s work in fracture was largely unrecognized until the 1950’s. See J.E. Gordon, The Science of Structures and Materials, Scientific American Library, 1988, for a personal account of the Griffith story.
[27] Irwin G.R. 1948 “Fracture Dynamics,” Fracturing of Metals, American Society for Metals, Cleveland, 1948.
[28] S. Abejide, M.M.H Mostafa, D. das, B. Awuzie, M Rahman. 2021. Pavement Quality Index Rating Strategy Using Fracture Energy Analysis for Implementing Smart Road Infrastructure. Sensors MDPI. Vol 21. Issue 12. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21124231
[29] Canestrari, F. and Ingrassia, L.P., 2020. A review of top-down cracking in asphalt pavements: Causes, models, experimental tools and future challenges. Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (English Edition), 7(5), pp.541-572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2020.08.002
[30] Abejide Samuel, Mostafa M.H. Mohamed. 2023. Increasing Moisture Content as Failure Rate Propagator of Hot Mix Asphalt Pavement Using Fracture Mechanics, Transportation Research Procedia, Volume 69, 2023, Pages 671-678, ISSN 2352-1465. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2023.02.222
[31] Uhlmeyer, J.S., Willoughby, K., Pierce, L.M. and Mahoney, J.P., (2000). Top-down cracking in Washington state asphalt concrete wearing courses. Transportation research record, 1730(1), pp.110-116. https://doi.org/10.3141/1730-13
[32] Matsuno, S. and Nishizawa, T., (1992). Mechanism of longitudinal surface cracking in asphalt pavement. In International Conference on Asphalt Pavements, 7th, 1992, Nottingham, United Kingdom (Vol. 2).
[33] Blab, R. and Harvey, J.T., (2002). Modeling measured 3D tire contact stresses in a viscoelastic FE pavement model. The International Journal Geomechanics, 2(3), pp.271-290. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1532-3641(2002)2:3(271)
[34] Myers, L. A., Roque R., Birgisson B., (2001). Use of Two-dimensional Finite Element Analysis to Represent Bending Response of Asphalt Pavement Structures. International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 2 (3), pp. 201- 214 https://doi.org/10.1080/10298430108901727
[35] Fabrice, P.K.R., Abejide, S.O., Adedeji, J.A. and Mostafa, M.M.H., (2020). Evaluating the performance of warm mix asphalt incorporating recycled asphalt pavement treated bases. Transportation Research Procedia, 45, pp.716-723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2020.02.106
[36] Kamdem, R.F.P., Adedeji, J.A. and Mostafa, M.M.H., (2023). A Study on Indirect Tensile Strength for the Determination of Resilient Modulus of Warm Mix Asphalt. Transportation Research Procedia, 69, pp.783-790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2023.02.236
[37] Bodhinayake, B. C., (2008). A Study on Nonlinear Behaviour of Subgrades Under Cyclic Loading for the Development of a Design Chart for Flexible Pavements (Thesis), University of Wollongong.
[38] Al-Qadi, I. L., Wang, H., Tutumluer, E., (2010). Dynamic Analysis of Thin Asphalt Pavements by Using Cross-Anisotropic Stress-Dependent Properties for Granular Layer. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2154 (1): 156-163. https://doi.org/10.3141/2154-16
[39] Belytschko, T. and Black, T., (1999). Elastic crack growth in finite elements with minimal remeshing. International journal for numerical methods in engineering, 45(5), pp.601-620. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0207(19990620)45:5<601::AID-NME598>3.0.CO;2-S
[40] Moës, N., Dolbow, J. and Belytschko, T., (1999). A finite element method for crack growth without remeshing. International journal for numerical methods in engineering, 46(1), pp.131-150. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0207(19990910)46:1<131::AID-NME726>3.0.CO;2-J
[41] Alkaissi, Z.A., (2022). Modelling of Crack Propagation in Flexible Pavement Using X-FEM Method. In IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science (Vol. 961, No. 1, p. 012014). IOP Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/961/1/012014
[42] Nizamuddin, S., Boom, Y.J. and Giustozzi, F., (2021). Sustainable polymers from recycled waste plastics and their virgin counterparts as bitumen modifiers: A comprehensive review. Polymers, 13(19), p.3242. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13193242