Investigating top-down cracking of pavement in recycled waste plastic asphalt

Abstract. This study investigates a new approach for the use of an alternative sustainable wearing course material on flexible pavement roads (recycled asphalt plastic pavement). Highway infrastructure plays a major key role in the domestic transportation of people, goods and services within the community and from a national perspective. Thus, highway infrastructure provides provincial and local accessibility, which promotes the growth and development of the economy. For this reason, there is a need to develop a sustainable approach to increase the efficiency of transportation infrastructure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate top-down fatigue cracking failure mode of asphaltic wearing courses for use in in pavement overlays, at high traffic intersection points and on parking sections using dual tire loads in finite element analysis. The process of developing alternative mixing materials is initiated by the need to provide a stable mixture for use on field sections different from cold mix or conventional hot mix (HMA) materials, which is subjected to stripping delamination mode with increasing moisture content. In this study, it was observed that the bonds formed between the molten plastic material has the potential to bind the bitumen and the aggregates together as a homogenous material in such a way that, when hardened at reduced temperatures, the mix is able to form a stronger bonded material that is semipervious and allows drainage of moisture or water across the surface of the asphalt plastic layer. This study adopts an alternative approach to the design of an ultrathin film asphalt concrete porous pavement layer for use in pavement surface wearing course and high-density traffic roads considering the effects of increasing temperature and moisture absorption on the asphalt plastic pavement mix.