ABSTRACT
The present investigation is centered around flexible pavement design taking into consideration fatigue cracking as the performance criterion according to the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG). Bottom up fatigue cracking is defined as the maximum area of alligator cracking that is permitted to occur over the design period. HMA dynamic modulus (E*) is used to predict pavement response parameters and it is a key input for the prediction of fatigue. On these grounds, the impact of the E* of HMA mixes, that differentiate with respect to the asphalt binder, on the predicted fatigue cracking is investigated. For this purpose three different asphalt binders were examined, one pure and two modified. A flexible pavement cross section was considered with varying asphalt mix layer thickness in order for the pavement design process to be carried out. Results are presented and discussed in the paper.
