ABSTRACT
Change in temperature other than the temperature profile at which the pavement is stress-free is expected to cause thermal stress to a pavement structure. This chapter presents a formulation to estimate the thermal stress in asphalt layer due to any given variation of temperature. Simple formulation for estimation of thermal profile across the pavement layers has already been presented. Various researchers have studied the thermal profile of asphalt pavement theoretically and experimentally. Past studies suggest that thermal profile in the asphalt layer of an asphalt pavement is generally nonlinear. For low temperature and high rate of cooling, the stress developed will be high. If the drop of temperature is slow, asphalt layer may get time to dissipate the thermal stress. If the thermal stress developed is more than the tensile strength of the material, thermal crack may originate.
