Reflective Cracking Resistance Improvement of the Asphalt Concrete Overlay on an Airfield Pavement

Reflective cracking is the main problem of the asphalt concrete overlay on a functional airfield cement concrete pavement. It can reduce the serviceability and service life of the airfield pavement. The improvement effect of an epoxy asphalt geogrid stress-absorbing layer on the reflective cracking resistance of the asphalt concrete overlay on the functional airfield cement concrete pavement was studied with numerical analysis and a three-point bending test. The stress-absorbing layer is shown to significantly reduce concentrated stresses of the overlay, and the optimum values of thickness and modulus of the layer are about 0.5 cm and 800 MPa, respectively. Moreover, this layer can increase the bending strength and strain energy density of the airfield pavement structure, and the latter using the new composition with the optimum spraying volume of 2.0 l/m2 grows by 85.4% in comparison with a conventional absorbing layer at 0°C. The new layer greatly improves the reflective cracking resistance of the asphalt concrete overlay and can effectively delay or eliminate the onset and evolution of reflective cracking.