Résumé: The frequent increase of pavement deterioration along the major roads and highways has been one of the major interest areas amongst road engineers. Most of these distortions that usually occurred at the pavement surfacing lead to decrease in riding quality of road users and an increase in the annual maintenance budget. Scientists and engineers are constantly trying to improve the performance of asphalt pavements. Reinforcement of Bituminous mix might be one of the possible remedies that can be considered to improve the performance of asphalt pavements. Reinforcement generally consists of including certain materials with some desired properties within other material which lack those properties. Stone Mastic Asphalt pavement surfaces have been used successfully in Germany on heavily trafficked roads. Because of its excellent performance SMA has spread all over the world and gained acceptance amongst road authorities and asphalt industry. The concept of using fibres to improve the behaviour of materials is old. The modern developments of fibre reinforcement started in the early 1960s. It is thought that the addition of glass fibers to asphalt mixtures enhances material strength and fatigue resistance while adding ductility. Because of their excellent mechanical properties, glass fibers combined with SMA mix might offer an excellent potential for asphalt modification. ____________________________________________________________________________________ iii This research work investigates some fundamental characteristics and properties of glass fiber reinforced Stone Mastic Asphalt, which may have the benefit of improving the performance of road pavement. To evaluate the effect of the fiber contents and fiber lengths on the bituminous binder and bituminous mix, laboratory investigations were conducted on the samples with and without fiber. The testing undertaken on the bituminous binder comprise the penetration test, ductility test, elastic recovery test and viscosity test, whereas the tests undertaken on the bituminous mixes comprise the Marshall test, indirect tensile test, creep test, rutting tests and resistance to fatigue cracking by using repeated load indirect tensile test. The use of Glass fiber showed varied and consistent results. The inclusion of fiber glass into bituminous binder affected the rheological behaviour of base bitumen. The properties of the bitumen such as penetration, ductility and viscosity all undergo changes due to the addition of glass fibers. The extend of these changes depend on the concentration and lengths of the fiber used. This study showed that fiber does affect the properties of bituminous mixes. Addition of fibers reduces the stability and the density of the mix but exhibited greater Marshall flow and higher air void than the control specimen, provided that bitumen content and compactive effort remain the same. It is believed that lower density value associated with the fiberized mixes is an indication that more compactive energy is needed for fiberized mixes; in addition incorporation of fibers into a SMA mix requires a slight increase in the optimum bitumen content. _____________________________________________________________________________________ iv The results revealed that the reinforced mixes exhibited slightly higher stiffness modulus and higher resistance to permanent strain than the control mix. Also data indicated that the fiber has the potential to resist structural distress that occur in road pavement such as rutting and fatigue as result of increased traffic loading, by increasing the resistance to cracking and permanent deformation. An identifiable correlation was obtained between the laboratory tests parameters (stiffness and permanent strain) with fatigue and rutting properties of reinforced mixes. The dynamic creep test was found to be more reliable test in evaluating the rutting performance of asphalt mixtures as compared to the IDT test, whereas IDT test might be more reliable test in evaluating the fatigue performance of asphalt mixture as compared to the dynamic creep test Over all the effect of fiber contents and lengths was significant in most of the tests as shown by the statistical analysis.

Edition: Malaya: University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur
Langue: Anglais
Collation: ;30 cm
Diplôme: Doctorat d'état
Etablissement de soutenance: Universiti of Malaya Kuala Lumpur

Note: Bibliogr. pp1-13; Annexe pp1-5