Improvement and analysis of the pavement performance in superstructures

An adequate and standard level country's transport network is seen as sign of the countries development. In our country, heavy vehicle traffic is increasing with each passing day therefore that causes an increased deformation on road superstructure. Because of this reason, the maintenance and repair costs increase with every year as a result of material resource losses. In this study, it is aimed to prevent the deterioration of the superstructures by improving the mechanical and durability properties of concrete and hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures in rigid and flexible pavement design. The prepared HMA and concrete pavements are produced with polyester, steel and polypropylene fiber additives at 0.5 % to 2 % utilization ratios. Fresh and hardened concrete tests, durability tests and internal structure analyzes were performed on the concrete specimens for material characterization. The Marshall design, static-dynamic creep and resistance against de-icing salt tests were carried out on HMA mixtures. Experimental results showed that an improvement can be obtained on mechanical and durability properties of fiber used concrete pavement design. According to test results, it is seen that the optimum fiber ratio to be used in the design of fiber concrete is 1 %, when fresh and hardened concrete properties are taken into consideration. The Marshall strength values are decreased with the increase of the fiber usage in the HMA pavement specimens and it was seen that the similar results to the control samples were obtained from the 0.5 % fiber used specimens. The usage of 0.5 % polyester and polypropylene fiber has a beneficial effect on the resistance of HMA against de-icing salts. In addition, the results of the concrete pavement and HMA design were evaluated statistically, and the relationship between similarity ratios and test results according to fiber types was examined. As a result, the improvement of the superstructure performance by using fibers in concrete and HMA, the service life of the pavement will be increased and economic benefits can be achieved by reducing the maintenance costs. Keywords :Hot Mix Asphalt, Concrete Pavement, Fibers, Physical and mechanical properties, Durability