The effect of waste tire thread mesh on the dynamic behaviour of asphalt mixtures

The crack potential of the pavement under various loading conditions and temperature variations has been a problem for the application of asphalt pavements. Crack generation in asphalt pavement increases the maintenance and rehabilitation costs. Two principal solutions for the problem of asphalt pavement cracking have been introduced: first, applying a thicker asphalt pavement and, second, making an asphalt mixture with modified characteristics. The effects of different types of reinforcement on the cracking potential of asphalt pavement as a substantial characteristic of asphalt mixture has been questioned, and a variety of different experiments have been developed to determine these effects. The use of tire cord mesh in reinforcing asphalt pavement has been introduced and accurately observed in this research. In this paper, the crack potential of asphalt pavement reinforced with tire cord mesh is evaluated with emphasis on introducing experimental methods and analysing their results. The results show that the tire cord mesh reinforcement significantly increases the asphalt pavement resistance against cracking and increases its service life while decreasing maintenance and rehabilitation costs. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.