A Study on Flexural Fatigue Performance of Cement-Treated Base in Flexible Pavements Due to Repetitive Loading

Flexible pavements are subjected to vehicular loads that can affect their performance and decrease the service life due to rutting and fatigue criteria. For the past few decades, flexible pavements in India are constructed using base layers with unbound aggregates. In comparison to unbound granular layers, cement-treated base (CTB) is a superior layer of flexible pavement assembly that significantly reduces the stresses transferred to the soil subgrade. Cement-stabilized pavement bases provide a flexible response to rising traffic loads and frequency because they require little in the way of raw resources. This paper is mainly focussed on a methodical approach to design and evaluate CTB material in the laboratory. The fatigue performance of CTB beam specimens was assessed in the laboratory by repetitive loading under different stress ratios for different curing periods, and the findings were validated by comparing them with the fatigue model provided in the IRC-37:2018 guidelines for the design of flexible pavements. The research findings were utilized to assess how well the CTB performed in terms of fatigue under repeated wheel loads.