Effect of various interface bonding conditions on critical response characteristics for cracking potential of asphalt pavements

Interface bonding conditions are important to ensure the desired performance of multi-layered asphalt pavements. Most previous studies only investigated the sole effect of the interface at a specific location, although the most extreme case is when poor bonding occurred at multiple locations simultaneously. Also, the sensitivity of bonding effects to structural parameters is unclear. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of multiple bonding scenarios and structural parameters on critical responses, the 3-D viscoelastic finite element model. The results indicated that critical locations for cracking potential depend on bonding scenarios. Interface bonding between asphalt and aggregate base layers mainly contributed to bottom-up cracking, while the interface between asphalt layers was more associated with top-down and near-surface cracking. In addition, the use of a thicker asphalt layer was more effective than the use of a strong base layer to mitigate the negative effects of poor bonding conditions.