Comparison of Surface Layer Responses Under Heavy Truck Loadings on New and Reinforced Pavements with Different Interface Bond Conditions

Pavement surface layer failure can arise from a combination of factors, including traffic loads, environmental conditions, material properties, and the bonding conditions between asphalt layers. This study analyzes the strain distributions in the surface layers of a new pavement structure and of a reinforced pavement structure. The experimental studies are conducted at an accelerated pavement testing (APT) facility in full scale and compared to numerical simulations using Viscoroute© software. The results show that the new pavement structure exhibits strong bonding between layers, and homogeneous strain levels, and can be accurately modeled using a bonded interface. In the reinforced structure, however, partial sliding occurs at the interface and the predictions are conducted using a thin elastic interface layer with a low elastic modulus. The reinforced structure also presented much more variable strain distributions.