Author

Zeenat Nahar

Date of Award

January 2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Civil Engineering

First Advisor

Nabil Suleiman

Abstract

Asphalt pavements deteriorate over time due to traffic loads and weather conditions. The primary failure modes of asphalt pavements in North Dakota are rutting, fatigue cracking, and low temperature cracking. This study investigated whether the addi- tion of Aramid Fiber to SuperPave HMA mixes improves their resistance to rutting, low temperature cracking, and fatigue cracking. The experiments were conducted on conventional and fiber mixes provided by the North Dakota Department of Trans- portation. The Asphalt Pavement Analyzer (APA), Disk Shaped Compact Tension (DCT), and the Semi-Circular Disk Shape equipment (SCB) were used to test for rut- ting, low temperature cracking, and fatigue cracking resistances, respectively. Study findings indicate that the addition of Aramid fiber to SuperPave HMA mixes did not improve the rutting resistance of the HMA mix. Significant increase in fatigue cracking resistance was observed in the fiber mix while a decrease in low temperature cracking resistance was seen due to the addition of fiber.

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