ABSTRACT
The rehabilitation of rigid (concrete) pavements with the placement of an asphalt overlay is a common maintenance technique which results in a structure known as a composite pavement. The most common form of distress in this type of pavement is reflection cracking which can be due to traffic and/or climatic loading and it is considered as a very complex deterioration mechanism. Based on previous research, a simplified mechanics-based approach identified from the literature has been developed and adapted to model the progression of reflective cracking. To demonstrate the applicability of the model, results have been compared with data from the Long-Term Pavement Performance Infopave database, which contains performance and traffic data from monitored in-service road sections in North America. Results show the development of reflective cracking at different periods after the placement of the asphalt overlay and with different rates of cracking depending on the structure and material properties of the section as well as the specific traffic axle loading of each pavement section. A parametric study is used to identify those factors which have a greater influence on the progression of reflection cracking in composite pavements.
