Glass fibre modified asphalts and the use as a tension belt – pavement service lifetime calculations and economic efficiency

Fibres are added to asphalt surface mixes mainly due to technological reasons. The impact of loose glass fibre reinforcement on the performance characteristics of different asphalt mixes was investigated. On the one hand, the glass fibres were used at Stone Mastic Asphalts as a replacement for cellulose fibres. On the other hand, glass fibres were used as additives for asphalt concrete mixes. A constant glass fibre content of 0.5 mass-% was chosen for the laboratory tests. This paper presents the impact of glass fibres on the fatigue and stiffness performance of asphalt mixes, both determined using cyclic indirect tensile tests. The glass fibre modified asphalts investigated have high-performance characteristics, so that an application of these asphalt mixes as a tension band was examined. In order to assess the use of the glass fibre modified asphalt mixes as tension belts pavement service lifetime calculations and the economic efficiency were considered.