Evaluation of laboratory performances of different thickness of asphalt pavements prepared in field conditions

In our country and in the world, highways are mostly built as asphalt pavements. Even if a certain design thickness is chosen in the pavement design, there are changes in the pavement thickness due to various reasons arising from the construction process. Pavement performance is significantly affected by changes in thickness. In this study, the effect of asphalt layer thickness on pavement performance was investigated. The asphalt pavement samples used in the study were taken from the highway, which has been exposed to vehicle traffic and environmental impacts for a certain period of time. Samples were prepared in the laboratory in varying thicknesses ranging from 4 cm to 9 cm with 0.5 cm differences. Samples prepared in different thicknesses were evaluated in terms of permanent deformation, water damage and crack resistance with Hamburg wheel tracking test (HWTT), bending beam test and repeated load bending beam tests. It is understood that there is a high correlation between pavement thickness and crack resistance in bending, increase in layer thickness causes an increase in crack resistance in bending, as the layer thickness increases the difference in bending amount of the samples decreases, and the Hamburg test device is successful in evaluating the water sensitivity of the pavement.