Mesh-Independent Fracture Modeling for Overlay Pavement System under Heavy Aircraft Gear Loadings

Abstract

Flexible overlay systems often fail before reaching their design life due to the occurrence of reflective cracking caused by stress concentrations in the vicinity of joints and cracks in the underlying pavement. In this paper, a two-dimensional finite-element fracture model of a rehabilitated airfield overlay system subjected to mixed-mode loadings was developed to obtain accurate nonarbitrary critical fracture responses in asphalt overlays placed over rigid airfield pavements. A stress-intensity factor (SIF) and