ABSTRACT
Flexible pavements failure often occurs due to excessive permanent deformation (rutting) as a result of the undesirable environmental conditions and heavy traffic under repeated wheel loads. The development of such pavements performance has been considered valuable by reinforcing asphalt mixture. In this study, a three-dimensional finite element model was developed, using ABAQUS software to investigate the effect of repeated wheel load condition on rutting formation and pavements response. This model assumes that the pavement material response to the applied load is viscoelastic. In addition, the model is focused on the prediction of the contribution of natural and synthetic fibres in the surface course of Cold Bituminous Emulsion Mixture (CBEM) to develop the tensile and shear strength of flexible pavements in terms of rutting resistance. The results show that the behaviour of flexible pavements structure is improved when the quality of CBEMs was enhanced using these fibres.
