Effect of Fiberglass Geogrid Reinforcement to Fatigue Resistance of Bituminous Mixtures

This work aims at verifying the fiberglass geogrid contribution to the fatigue resistance of bituminous mixtures. To conduct the research, two different configurations of slabs were fabricated. The first one was composed of two mixtures layers glued by emulsion. The second one was identical to the first one but reinforced by fiberglass geogrid in the interface. This geogrid was fabricated at Afitexinov and has 100 kN/m of maximum resistance. Tests were performed on cylindrical samples horizontally cored into slabs. Interfaces were thus vertical. Cyclic tension/compression tests in controlled strain mode were carried out. Seven samples from each type of specimen were tested at frequency of 10 Hz and temperature of 10 °C. Four strain amplitudes were targeted: 80, 90, 100 and 110 μm/m. An increase in fatigue resistance was observed for high strain levels, for sample with the geogrid reinforcement. However, obtained ε₆, parameter from Wohler curves, which is used in the French design method, were similar for both specimens configuration.