3-D longitudinal and transverse cracking and the influence of non- uniform contact pressure on the stress intensity factors of these Cracks

It has been increasingly and consistently reported that cracking starts at the surface, especially for thicker pavements. The traditional model of bottom-up cracking is well understood and controlled by long life pavement designs. This means that future pavement management should focus on the surface layer deterioration. To this end, this study investigated the Stress Intensity Factors (SIF) of mode one (KI), mode two (KII) and mode three (KIII) cracking at the tip of longitudinal and transverse cracks and as such their influence on the possible continued propagation further into the pavement. The CAPA-3D finite element software was used to model the two cracking scenarios of the longitudinal and transverse cracks with non-uniform contact pressure The results highlighted the impact of the non-uniform contact pressure and the impact of the distance from the load to crack tip. It reveals the sharp changes seen as a tyre passes a crack and the SIFs generated at different positions under/ beside a crack. It is advised that the addition of the potential of crack propagation into the pavement be taken into account in the design of pavements.

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