Modélisation de la performance à la fissuration des chaussées réhabilitées par les techniques de retraitement type I et type II

Abstract

The repetitive loading from traffic and the extreme weather conditions cause pavement structure failure, that involves pavement rehabilitation to maintain the road in a safe state and extend its life. Since the 1980s, rehabilitation treatments especially, cold-in place recycling (CIR) and full-depth reclamation (FDR), have been gaining momentum in Quebec. These methods improve the structural and functional condition of the pavement and meet the requirements of sustainable development. Although CIR and FDR technics are considered performant for pavement rehabilitation, their cracking performance are not well understood. Cracking is one of the most frequent deterioration modes in rehabilitated pavements. However, current pavement design methods do not consider the effect of the existence cracks in the pavement. In addition, satisfactory research is yet to be done with regards to gaining further comprehension of the behavior of CIR and FDR materials to predict the rehabilitated pavement performance. The main objective of this thesis is to evaluate and model the cracking performance of CIR and FDR technics. To achieve this goal, this thesis was oriented along three main axes. The first part covers the characterization of viscoelastic and the fracture properties of CIR and FDR materials using the complex modulus test and the semi-circular bending test (SCB). The second part covers the cracking performance modeling of CIR and FDR materials using the finite element method. A 2D finite element model of the SCB test was developed using ABAQUS software. The crack initiation and propagation were modeled using the extended finite element method (XFEM). The numerical results were validated and showed a good agreement with the crack propagation observed in the laboratory testing. Finally, the rehabilitated pavement structures are modeled to investigate their performance to cracking. In order to validate the modeling approach, a real structure available in the LTPP database has been modeled. The numerical results were validated and showed a good agreement with the deflections measured on pavement. Finally, rehabilitated structures were modeled and evaluated to cracking. The results showed that the CIR structure is sensitive to reflective cracking while the FDR performance is related to the behavior of the FDR materials.

Date	10 Mar 2020
Original language	French
Awarding Institution	École de technologie supérieure
Supervisor	Alan Carter (Supervisor) & Michel Vaillancourt (Co-supervisor)