Abstract:
The use of geogrid reinforcements has received more attention recently as a means of
extending pavement service life, ensuring excellent performance, and lowering service and
maintenance costs. Rutting and fatigue cracking are major problems with existing hot mix
asphalt (HMA) pavements. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effective
position of geogrids under dynamic vehicular loads. The key to obtaining effective
performance from geogrids and related products is correct installation. Numerical
investigation results for six different possibilities of geogrid reinforcement in the paved
road layers have been evaluated. The effective position was decided based upon the
predicated horizontal tensile strain, vertical stress reduction, and deformation reduction
rate. In this paper, the effects of fiberglass geogrid installation depth rutting and fatigue
cracking control have been considered with the finite element method. A finite element
analysis will be carried out using Python scripting with 3D ABAQUS version 2021
software in order to conduct a comprehensive study on geogrid installation depth for
preventing rutting and fatigue cracking. This study was carried out at six locations of
geogrid installation in flexible pavement layers: 1. at the middle of the hot mix asphalt
layer; 2. hot mix asphalt-base interface; 3. in the middle of the base layer; 4. base-subbase
interface; 5. in the middle of the subbase layer; 6. at the interface between the subbase and
the subgrade layer. The result showed that placing geogrid reinforcement at the interface
of HMA and base layer led to the highest reduction in tensile strain (fati gue). The highest
decrease in vertical deformation occurs when the reinforcement is placed at the interface
of the subbase and subgrade layers.
Keywords: ABAQUS, Python, Flexible Pavement, Fiberglass Geogrid,