Low temperature failure behavior analysis of fiber reinforced asphalt concrete under indirect tension test using acoustic emission and digital image correlation

Failure behavior is the key property needed to be characterized in asphalt concrete at low temperature, which is one of the major influence factors for service life of asphalt pavement. In this study, the reinforcing effect of glass fiber on failure process of asphalt concrete under indirect tension (IDT) test at -10℃ was investigated using acoustic emission (AE) and digital image correlation (DIC) techniques. Control asphalt concrete (CAC) with no fibers was also carried out for comparison. The evolutions of AE parameters including amplitude, count, duration, rise time and corresponding cumulative ones were obtained and analyzed to characterize the failure processes of fiber reinforced asphalt concretes (FRACs) and control one, which were compared with the results from static displacement and strain data obtained through DIC. The effect of fiber length was also investigated to better understand the reinforcing mechanism and determine the proper reinforcing fibers. The test results revealed that low temperature failure processes of CAC and FRAC could be effectively classified according to the variations of AE parameters and corresponding cumulative ones. Three and five failure stages were identified for CAC and FRACs, respectively, which could clearly reflect the reinforcing effect of glass fiber. Cumulative AE parameters presented better identification effect on fiber reinforcement than displacement or strain, while stain data exhibited favorable performance for microcrack initiation. As for the fiber length effect on damage failure process of FRAC, evolutions of cumulative AE parameters before final failure of specimen became more stable with the increase of fiber length within 6-20 mm. AE technique presented great potential for failure behavior analysis and explanation of fiber reinforcing mechanism in asphalt concrete, which also provided promising method for real-time monitoring of cracking in asphalt pavement.