Experimental evaluation of the interface fracture energy for composite pavements

Abstract

EATA 2017, 7th International EATA Conference, ZURICH, SUISSE, 12-/06/2017 - 14/06/2017In pavement structures, the weakest part is often the interface between the different material layers. In the present study and following many previous works, the Wedge Splitting Test (WST) is chosen as a quite convenient test method to get the fracture energy of such an interface. An adaptation of the WST equipment is proposed in this paper. The specimen is prepared with a cylindrical groove instead of a rectangular groove with the aim of testing specimens from construction sites. A slim wedge of 14° is used to assure principally the studying of the interface debonding phenomenon in a quasi-pure opening Mode I. A finite element study is conducted to analyse the effect of the variation of boundary conditions on the specimen. The main objective of this study is to compare the static testing results (under controlled displacement rate of 0.7 mm/min at ambient temperature close to 20°C) with those coming from the literature for Ultra-Thin White-topping type of bi-layer specimens