THE EFFECT OF COARSE AGGREGATE ON CRACKING RESISTANCE OF ASPHALT CONCRETE

Asphalt concrete is a typical non-homogeneous material, but it is usually treated as a homogeneous and isotropic body in mechanical analysis. This causes the results of theoretical analysis hardly in agreement with actual. Meanwhile, it can hardly interpret the phenomena that the crack resistance of asphalt concrete containing large stone aggregate is larger than that of containing little stone aggregate. The authors use coarse aggregate in homogeneous asphalt concrete and analyze the effects of coarse aggregate on cracking resistant of asphalt concrete by using a fracture mechanistic finite element method. The results can interpret the mechanism why the crack resistance of asphalt concrete containing large stone aggregate is larger than that of containing little stone aggregate. Therefore, large stone aggregate asphalt concrete can improve pavement use life-span.