Fatigue Behavior of a Pavement Foundation with Recycled

Aggregate and Waste HDPE Strips

Khaled Sobhan1 and Mehedy Mashnad2

Abstract: A laboratory investigation was conducted to evaluate the fatigue behavior of an alternative pavement foundation material
containing cement stabilized reclaimed crushed aggregate. Class C fly ash, and waste-plastic strip 关high density polyethylene 共HDPE兲兴
reinforcement. The primary motivation for this research was to evaluate a composite that contained more than 90% recycled materials for
use as an alternative foundation layer underneath conventional flexible or rigid pavement. The specific objectives of this study were 共1兲
to evaluate the flexural fatigue behavior of the new composite, and 共2兲 to evaluate the accumulation of fatigue damage in the material. The
results indicate that the fatigue resistance of this material is similar to other traditional stabilized pavement materials. It was found that the
dynamic elastic modulus remained approximately constant 共degraded slowly兲 for most specimens up to the end of fatigue life. Fatigue
damage computed using a dissipated energy approach showed that the damage accumulation in this material approximately follows
Miner’s rule for cumulative damage, which is often used in pavement engineering.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲1090-0241共2003兲129:7共630兲
CE Database subject headings: Recyling; Aggregates; Fatigue tests; Pavements; Foundations; Polyethylene.

Introduction and Research Significance
Pavements are multilayered structures with an asphalt or concrete
slab resting on a foundation system comprising layers of geoma-
terials such as the base, subbase, and subgrade. Current research
focuses on an alternative foundation material made from cement
stabilized recycled crushed aggregate and fly ash. In an attempt to
improve the toughness of the cementitious composite, which is a
brittle material, strips of recycled high-density polyethylene ob-
tained from milk and water containers are introduced into the
matrix as microreinforcing elements. The resultant product, which
contains only 4 – 8% cement, is comprised of at least 92% waste
materials. This research, therefore, promotes such environmen-
tally sound concepts as alternative reuse of solid waste materials
and conservation of natural resources, along with a possibility of
economic savings realized by utilizing inexpensive waste aggre-
gate and the subsequent elimination of landfill disposal and haul-
ing costs. Mechanical characterization studies under static loading
aimed at developing optimum mixes 共which include amounts of
cement, fly ash, recycled aggregate as well as the amount and
length of waste plastic strips兲 based on strength and toughness
criteria were reported previously 共Sobhan and Mashnad 2001兲. A
summary of the earlier findings are provided later in this paper to
1
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Florida Atlantic
Univ., 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431.
2
Graduate Student, Dept. of Civil Engineering, New Mexico State
Univ., MSC-3CE, Box 30001, Las Cruces, NM 88003.
Note. Discussion open until December 1, 2003. Separate discussions
must be submitted for individual papers. To extend the closing date by
one month, a written request must be filed with the ASCE Managing
Editor. The manuscript for this paper was submitted for review and pos-
sible publication on May 25, 2001; November 6, 2002. This paper is part
of the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering,
Vol. 129, No. 7, July 1, 2003. ©ASCE, ISSN 1090-0241/2003/7-
630– 638/$18.00.
better explain the mix and experimental variables adopted in the
present study, which primarily focuses on flexural fatigue charac-
terization of the new material.
Background and Motivation
Recycled Aggregate in Pavements: Current State
of Knowledge
Approximately 25 million metric tons of construction and demo-
lition debris are generated each year in the United States 共NCHRP
1994兲 of which approximately 50% is waste concrete. A survey
showed that at least 11 states are using crushed concrete aggre-
gate in highway construction 共FHWA 1994兲. Additionally, ap-
proximately 3 million metric tons of concrete pavements are
being recycled each year for use as aggregate in new concrete
mixes or as base courses in highway rehabilitation projects. Lim-
ited laboratory and field studies have indicated satisfactory per-
formance of recycled crushed aggregate as a viable alternative
material for various highway applications, which include aggre-
gate for new concrete mixes, and granular and stabilized layers in
pavement foundations 共American Concrete Pavement Association
1993; NCHRP 1994; Papp et al. 1998兲. However, due to lack of
information about the long-term durability of recycled aggregate
or pavement structures that incorporate such materials, the civil
engineering community is yet to see widespread use of recycled
aggregate in pavement construction or rehabilitation projects.
The cement-bound recycled aggregate composite proposed in
this study provides an inexpensive roller compacted concrete
共RCC兲 material, which has a lower strength requirement than con-
ventional RCC since it will be used as a stabilized base layer in
the pavement structure. The RCC used in this study is a zero-
slump soil–cement type mixture that is generally laid with a
paver and compacted with a roller to an appropriate density. Con-
ventional RCC pavement technology, including mixture propor-
tions, properties, thickness design, construction, inspection, and
performance, is well documented 共ACI 1994兲. To delay the for-

630 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003

Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
Fig. 1. Location of critical stress and strain in flexible pavement
containing 共a兲 granular and 共b兲 stabilized base course; radial tensile
stress or strain are at the bottom of the asphalt layer in 共a兲, and at the
bottom of the stabilized layer in 共b兲.
mation and propagation of tensile cracks in RCC pavements
共which are not reinforced兲, several investigators 共Nanni and Jo-
hari 1989; Nanni 1989兲 utilized randomly oriented steel fibers in
the mixture and constructed experimental pavements for field
evaluation. Sobhan and Krizek 共1998, 1999兲 reported fatigue and
damage studies of stabilized recycled aggregate reinforced with
commercially available polypropylene and steel fibers. However,
the high cost of commercial fibers is likely to make their use
impractical in pavement base or foundation layers. Therefore, the
current study evaluated the performance of an alternative source
of fibers, recycled HDPE strips, for use as reinforcements. Ac-
cording to the data published by EPA 共1992兲, the solid waste
stream in the United States in 1988 included 14.4 million tons of
plastics, which occupied 20% by volume of the available landfill
spaces. Approximately 2.2 million metric tons of HDPE are pro-
duced annually and only 7% is currently being recycled. There-
fore, innovative use of recycled plastics as fiber/strip reinforce-
ment of pavement layers may be a promising concept in terms of
both environmental and economic considerations.
Mechanistic Considerations
From a mechanistic standpoint, a cement based pavement layer is
subjected to repeated tensile 共flexural兲 stress due to dynamic traf-
fic loading on the surface. Fig. 1 shows the locations of critical
stress and strain in conventional flexible pavement 关Fig. 1共a兲兴 and
similar pavement with a stabilized base course that replaces the
traditional granular base course 关Fig. 1共b兲兴. The pavement with a
high strength stabilized base 共compressive strength in the range of
500–700 psi兲 such as the one used in this study derives most of
its structural strength from the base layer and needs only thin
asphalt surfacing 共FHWA 1992; Thompson 1994兲. Fig. 1 shows
the shift of critical tensile stress from the bottom of the asphalt
layer 关Fig. 1共a兲兴 to the bottom of the stabilized layer 关Fig. 1共b兲兴,
thus requiring very different performance and design criteria com-
pared to conventional pavements. Accordingly, the tensile and
flexural strength characteristics and the behavior of the material
under repeated loading are important parameters which will affect
the performance of the entire pavement structure. At the same
time, knowledge about the gradual accumulation of fatigue dam-
age in the material will provide valuable insights into the durabil-
ity of this composite, which is composed primarily of waste ma-
terials, and for which no long-term performance data are
available.
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003 / 631
Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
Fig. 2. Combined average grain size distribution of aggregate used
in research study 共TX: Texas兲 compared to material sampled else-
where in U.S. 共IL: Illinois; MD: Maryland兲
Objectives
The main objectives of the study involving a stabilized recycled
aggregate base course material were:
• To determine the relationship between the stress ratio and the
number of cycles to failure 共the so-called S–N curve兲 and
compare its performance with other traditional stabilized ma-
terials; and
• To study the degradation of material properties and gradual
accumulation of damage due to cyclic loading.
Materials
Reclaimed aggregate was obtained from a plant operated by Jobe
Concrete Company in El Paso, Tex., which collects demolished
concrete products 共from infrastructure rehabilitation projects兲,
separates the reinforcements and impurities, and crushes into 1-
or 2-in. aggregate suitable for pavement base or subbase applica-
tions. Several grain size distribution tests performed on random
samples demonstrated that the crushed recycled aggregate from
Texas 共southwestern region兲 selected for this study has very simi-
lar gradations to those found in the East 共Maryland兲 and the Mid-
west 共Illinois兲 regions of the country as shown in Fig. 2 共Sobhan
and Mashnad 2001兲. Type I Portland cement and Class C fly ash
were used as stabilizing agents. Fly ash was obtained from Min-
eral Solutions 共formerly The American Fly Ash Company兲 lo-
cated in Naperville, Ill. This fly ash complies with ASTM C618
specifications. Plastic strips were obtained from recycled high
density polyethylene 共HDPE兲 like that found in milk or water
containers collected from the city of Las Cruces, N.M. utility
department. Recycled HDPE strips from milk jugs are reported to
have an average tensile strength of 16.4 MPa and Young’s modu-
lus of 900 MPa 共Benson and Khire 1994兲. The strips had a width
of 6.35 mm 共0.25 in.兲, a thickness of 0.50 mm 共0.02 in.兲, and
length of 19 共0.75 in.兲, 50.8 共2 in.兲 or 76 mm 共3 in.兲.
Mix Optimization Studies
The flexural fatigue tests in this study were conducted on speci-
mens containing 92% by weight of recycled aggregate, 4% ce-
ment, 4% fly ash 共FA兲, and ad additional 1 or 1.25% of 50.8-mm
long waste HDPE strips. This mixture was selected on the basis of
 Fig. 3. Schematics of split tension test setup

unconfined compression, split tension, and static flexural tests

conducted on various mixtures reported elsewhere 共Sobhan and
Mashnad 2001兲. A summary of the earlier findings related to the
current study is provided next.

Strength and Toughness

Twenty-one different mixture designs were utilized to test cylin-
drical specimens in unconfined compression and split tension.
The mixture proportions included 4 – 8% cement, 4 – 8% fly ash,
0.25–1.25% waste HDPE strips, and 84 –92% recycled aggregate
共all percentages are based on the total dry weight of the mixture兲.
The mixture with 92% recycled aggregate, 4% cement, and 4%
fly ash achieved compressive strengths up to 5 MPa 共725 psi兲,
indicating a moderately strong stabilized pavement base course
material. Inclusion of 0.5% of plastic strips to this mixture sig-
nificantly improved the postpeak load-bearing capacity or tough-
ness of the composite in split tension mode. This toughness was
determined by calculating the total areas under the load deforma-
tion curves. The diametrial tensile deformation of the split tension Fig. 4. Effect of fiber length on strength and toughness
specimens was measured by attaching two linear variable differ-
ential transducers 共LVDTs兲 midheight, orthogonal to the loading with 50.8-mm long HDPE strips at a dosage rate ranging from 0.5
direction as shown in Fig. 3. to 1.25%. The average flexural strength was directly used as an
initial estimate of the stress ratios applied during the fatigue tests;
the procedure for the calculation of stress ratios will be discussed
Optimum Strip Length later. The flexural load-deformation diagrams presented in Fig. 5
Three lengths of the recycled HDPE strips were used in the mix- show that the inclusion of strips at dosage of 1 or 1.25% by
tures: 19 共0.75 in.兲, 50.8 共2 in.兲, and 76 mm 共3 in.兲. The compres- weight demonstrate the existence of a postpeak strength or load-
sive strength, split tensile strength, and absolute toughness 共area bearing capacity 共as opposed to complete brittle failure of the
under the split tension load-deformation diagrams兲 plotted versus unreinforced beam兲. Amount of strips could not be increased any
the strip lengths 共shown in Fig. 4兲 demonstrated that the 50.8-mm further due to the potential loss of density and workability. Ac-
strips produced the optimum results under the conditions investi- cordingly, the fatigue specimens contained 1.25% 共by weight兲
gated in this study. HDPE strips.

Flexural Behavior Specimen Preparation and Curing

Based on the above observations, the specimens for static flexural All beam specimens were prepared at a constant dry unit weight
tests were prepared with 4% cement and 4% fly ash reinforced of 19 kN/m3 共120 pcf兲, which represented about 94% of the maxi-

632 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003

Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
 Fig. 5. Load-deformation behavior in flexure
mum modified Proctor density 共Sobhan and Mashnad 2001兲. The
molding water content for all specimens was 9% 共dry weight of
the mix兲, which was slightly on the dry side of the optimum
moisture content. Twelve beam specimens, three unreinforced and
seven reinforced beams, were prepared for flexural fatigue tests.
Predetermined amounts of cement, aggregate, fly ash, and strips
were first dry mixed in a rotary-type concrete mixer. After this
step, water was added gradually to the materials, which were
mixed for an additional 5 min. The resultant mix resembled a
zero-slump, roller-compacted concrete-type mixture. The size of
each prismatic beam prepared for this study was 76.2 cm⫻15.24
cm⫻15.24 cm 共30 in.⫻6 in.⫻6 in.兲. Beams were prepared by
compacting the mix in detachable steel molds in three equal lay-
ers. The top of each layer was sacrificed to properly bond with the
next layer. The beams were sealed cured for 24 h in the laboratory
environment, and then were unmolded and carried to the 100%
humidity room for curing. The average curing period was 28
days.
Test Methods and Data Acquisition
Beams were tested in a third-point-loading configuration over a
span length of 686 mm 共27 in.兲; this implies that the load points
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003 / 633
Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
were 229 mm 共9 in.兲 apart. All beams were loaded with an IN-
STRON closed-loop servo-hydraulic testing system equipped
with a function generator, which is capable of producing cyclic
waveforms over a wide range of frequencies. A counter panel
attached to the machine recorded the number of cycles to failure
during a fatigue test. All fatigue tests were conducted under load
control conditions using a sinusoidal load pulse with a constant
amplitude at a frequency of 2 Hz 共120 cycles/min兲. It is generally
known that, for concrete-type materials, the rate of loading does
not have a significant effect on the fatigue life for frequencies
between 1 and 15 Hz 共ACI Committee 544 1990兲. In an actual
situation, an axle load traveling at 88.5 km/h 共55 miles/h兲 would
traverse two 6.1-m 共20 ft兲 long slabs in 0.00826 min, which im-
plies that the frequency of loading on that section of pavement is
121 cycles/min or approximately 2 Hz. The amplitude 共which was
different for each specimen兲 was selected such that the magnitude
of the load varied between a maximum and a minimum load, the
latter of which was about 10% of the maximum load for all tests.
A minimum load was used so that the specimen would be loaded
without any shock or impact at each cycle.
In a typical fatigue experiment, the repeated load is usually
expressed in terms of a stress ratio, which is the ratio of the
flexural stress applied to the static flexural strength or the modu-
Table 1. Results of Fatigue Tests
Compressive Predicted Flexural
Repeated strength from flexural Initial strength of
flexural broken fatigue strength estimated fatigue Stress Resilient
stress Cycles to beams from Eq. 共1兲 strength beams ratio modulus
Beam 共MPa兲 failure, N r 共MPa兲 共MPa兲 共MPa兲 共MPa兲 SR 共GPa兲
共1兲 共2兲 共3兲 共4兲 共5兲 共6兲 共7兲 共8兲 共9兲
FU1 0.97 40 6.28 0.94 0.96 0.95 1.02 0.69
FU2 0.52 696,411 6.00 0.92 0.96 0.94 0.55 0.79
FU3 0.90 4 4.23 0.78 0.96 0.87 1.03 ?
FR4 0.69 38,493 5.55 0.88 0.96 0.92 0.75 1.09
FR5 0.52 138,578 5.36 0.87 0.96 0.91 0.57 0.91
FR6 0.52 28,468 6.25 0.94 0.96 0.95 0.54 0.69
FR7 0.45 996,700 5.36 0.87 0.96 0.91 0.49 0.97
FR8 0.63 24,409 7.13 1.01 0.96 0.98 0.64 0.80
FR9 0.50 994,001 4.96 0.84 0.96 0.90 0.56 0.74
FR10 0.65 9,987 4.87 0.83 0.96 0.90 0.73 0.84
Note: Calculation for resilient modulus could not be done.

lus of rupture of the material. A traditional practice is to conduct
three or more static flexural tests and consider the average flex-
ural strength to be representative of the material. Notwithstanding
the well-known heterogeneity inherent to concrete-type materials
this procedure was used in this study to obtain an initial estimate
of the stress ratio. However, in order to determine the ‘‘actual’’
static strength of the specimens with a higher degree of confi-
dence, a separate series of tests was conducted on broken pieces
obtained from the static and fatigue specimens; these results will
be discussed later.
In addition to recording the number of cycles to failure for
each experiment, a LVDT was attached to measure the midpoint
cyclic deformation of the specimens. The LVDT and the load cell
of the testing machine were attached to a high-speed external data
acquisition system to continuously record the cyclic load defor-
mation response. This information was necessary to monitor and
quantify the gradual accumulation of fatigue damage in the ma-
terial as the loading cycles progressed. The data acquisition soft-
ware was programmed so that it recorded two complete load-
deformation cycles at every 10-cycle interval.
Analysis of Flexural Fatigue Tests Results
effect of variations in individual specimen strengths on the fatigue
relationships. In order to determine the ‘‘exact’’ stress ratio ap-
plied to each beam, the flexural strength of the individual beam
must be determined or estimated.
To better predict the flexural strengths of the beams tested
under cyclic load, a correlation study was undertaken in which the
relationship between the compressive and flexural strength of the
beams used in static flexural tests was investigated. In this proce-
dure 共ASTM C116 1999兲, compression tests were conducted on
portions of broken beams that failed in static flexure described
previously in ‘‘Mixture Optimization Studies.’’ These results are
presented in Table 2, and the compressive strengths are plotted in
Fig. 6 versus the flexural strengths of the original beams. Fig. 6
also shows similar data from the literature. The best-fit curve
through all points can be represented by the following equation:
S f ⫽0.0777⫻S c ⫹0.452 (1)
where S f ⫽flexural strength 共MPa兲; and S c ⫽unconfined compres-
sive strength 共MPa兲. Eq. 共1兲 was used to obtain a better estimate
of the actual flexural strength of the failed fatigue specimens in
the following manner. After the fatigue tests were completed,
prismatic specimens were cut with a saw from the ends of the
failed beams, and unconfined compression tests were con-

Table 1 summarizes the results of the fatigue tests. Unreinforced

beams are labeled FU1–FU3, and strip-reinforced beams 共each
containing 1.25% HDPE strips兲 are labeled FR4 –FR10. Columns Table 2. Results of Correlation Studies from Static Flexural Tests
共2兲 and 共3兲 present the magnitude of repeated flexural stress and Compressive
the number of cycles to failure, respectively. Columns 共4兲–共8兲 Flexural strength from
represent the various steps and techniques adopted for determina- strength broken static beams
tion of the applied stress ratio, which will be discussed next. Mix design 共MPa兲 共MPa兲
Column 共9兲 represents the resilient modulus of each beam calcu- 共1兲 共2兲 共3兲
lated from the cyclic load-deformation data and will also be dis- 4%C⫹4%FA 0.94 5.49
cussed later in the paper. 8%C⫹8%FA 1.58 12.20
4%C⫹4%FA⫹0.50%, 50.8 mm fibers 0.98 5.35
4%C⫹4%FA⫹0.50%, 50.8 mm fibers 1.14 9.29
Determination of Stress Ratio 4%C⫹4%FA⫹1.00%, 50.8 mm fibers 0.90 5.25
4%C⫹4%FA⫹1.25%, 50.8 mm fibers 0.82 6.36
It is customary to express fatigue behavior in terms of the so-
8%C⫹8%FA⫹0.50%, 50.8 mm fibers 1.14 11.30
called S–N curve, which is the relationship between the stress
8%C⫹8%FA⫹0.50%, 50.8 mm fibers 1.73 11.88
ratio and the corresponding number of cycles to failure. The con-
8%C⫹8%FA⫹1.00%, 50.8 mm fibers 1.64 14.37
cept of stress ratio, which is obtained by normalizing the repeated
8%C⫹8%FA⫹1.25%, 50.8 mm fibers 1.10 10.00
stress applied with the respective ultimate strength, minimizes the

634 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003

Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org

Fig. 6. Correlation between compressive strength and flexural
strength
ducted on these specimens. The results of these unconfined com-
pression tests are given in Table 1 共column 4兲, and the computed
flexural strengths using Eq. 共1兲 are presented in column 5. The
initial estimated strength of 0.96 MPa, which represents the mean
flexural strengths from static tests, is also given in Table 1 共col-
umn 6兲. Since the objective of this endeavor was to ‘‘predict’’ the
strength of the specimens prior to repeated load tests, the initial
mean strength was included in the final prediction process. Ac-
cordingly, the ‘‘best’’ estimate of the actual flexural strength of
the original beam was considered to be the average of the
strengths predicted by both methods; these values are simply
called the flexural strengths of fatigue beams and are shown in
Table 1 共column 7兲. Finally, the repeated flexural stresses are
divided by the flexural strengths to determine the final stress ratio
for each beam, and these values are also shown in Table 1 共col-
umn 8兲.
S – N Curves and Comparison Studies
The stress ratios are plotted versus the number of cycles to fail-
ures in Fig. 7 to obtain the so-called S–N curve. A best-fit solid
curve is drawn through the strip-reinforced specimens 共curve
number 2兲. Since the focus of this research was to evaluate the
performance of strip reinforced stabilized recycled aggregate,
three unreinforced specimens were prepared and tested in fatigue
under this experimental program. These three data points are also
plotted in S–N space, but no attempts were made to draw a trend
line through these points. Instead, data points for several unrein-
forced specimens from a previous study 共Sobhan and Krizek
1999兲 were plotted in S–N space, and a best-fit curve is drawn
through them for comparison purposes 共curve number 5兲. These
unreinforced beams were made from similar mixes containing 4%
cement, 4% fly ash, and 92% recycled aggregate obtained from
Illinois sources 共shown in Fig. 2兲. It was found that the unrein-
forced specimens performed very similar to the strip-reinforced
specimens. Specifically, the strip-reinforced specimens showed
better performance in the low-cycle range 共0–5,000 cycles兲, but
the unreinforced specimens demonstrated stronger resistance to
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003 / 635
Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
Fig. 7. Stress ratio versus number of cycles to failure for various
stabilized pavement material: 共1兲 HSSB materials, 共2兲 HDPE
strip-reinforced recycled aggregates, 共3兲 concrete, 共4兲 lime-fly ash,
共5兲 unreinforced recycled aggregate, 共6兲 soil cement, 共7兲 lean con-
crete, and 共8兲 steel fiber-reinforced recycled aggregate
fatigue failure in the high-cycle range 共beyond 5,000 cycles兲.
These observations should only be considered as preliminary
trends because of the small number of specimens tested in each
case.
One of the objectives of the fatigue experiments was to com-
pare the performance of the recycled aggregate base course with
that of similar stabilized base course materials typically used in
pavement construction. Typical S–N relationships for five such
materials, namely, high strength stabilized base 共HSSB兲 materials
共Thompson 1994兲, concrete, lime-fly ash aggregate, soil cement,
and lean concrete were retrieved from the literature 共FHwA
1992兲, and superimposed in Fig. 7, dashed lines. Also plotted is
the S–N curve 共curve number 8兲 for stabilized recycled aggregate
reinforced with commercially available 60-mm hooked-end steel
fibers 共Sobhan and Krizek 1999兲. These comparisons show that
the performance of stabilized, strip-reinforced recycled aggregate
is quite similar to soil cement, HSSB, and concrete. It was also
found that the steel fiber reinforced recycled aggregate outper-
forms most traditional stabilized materials. A best-fit curve
through the data for the strip-reinforced recycled aggregate speci-
mens gives the following relationships between the stress ratio
共SR兲 and the fatigue life, N:
SR⫽⫺0.038⫻ln共 N 兲 ⫹1.047 (2)
Endurance Limit
Fatigue strength is generally defined as the maximum flexural
stress at which a beam can withstand 2 million cycles of nonre-
versed fatigue loading 共Johnston and Zemp 1991兲. Fatigue
strength, expressed as a percentage of the modulus of rupture or
flexural strength, is called the endurance limit, which refers to a
level of stress at which the beam will sustain at least 2 million
cycles of loading. As reported in the literature 共Ramakrishnan
et al. 1989兲, the endurance limit of plain concrete varies between
50 and 57% of the static modulus of rupture. In the current study,
the 2-million cycle endurance limit for the strip-reinforced speci-
mens calculated from Eq. 共2兲 was 50%, which was found to be
comparable to concrete, lime-fly ash, and HSSB materials, but
lower than other traditional pavement materials.
 Fig. 8. Schematic of loading–unloading process
Resilient Modulus
The resilient modulus, which is determined from repeated load
tests, is required for a mechanistic pavement design method. The
general equation for calculating the resilient modulus, M R , from
flexural tests was given by Vinson 共1990兲 as
P
M R ⫽K
I⌬
where K⫽constant depending on load, end constraint, and speci-
men geometry; P⫽magnitude of repeated load; I⫽moment of in-
ertia of the cross section; and ⌬⫽dynamic midspan deflection.
For the purpose of calculating the resilient modulus, ⌬ refers to
the recoverable deformation as shown schematically in Fig. 8,
which is a representation of the load-deformation response in
each cycle. As is shown, the total deformation, ⌬ T is the sum of a
recoverable deformation, ⌬ R , and a plastic deformation, ⌬ P .
Mitchell and Shen 共1967兲, who studied the resilient properties of
soil cement by performing dynamic triaxial compression and flex-
ural tests, calculated the resilient modulus after 1,000 load repeti-
tions. Previous research on stabilized recycled aggregate indi-
cated that the deformation is mostly elastic 共i.e., the rate of
accumulation of permanent deformation is stabilized兲 after the
specimen had completed about 5% of its fatigue life 共Sobhan and
Krizek 1998兲. If the resilient deformation at 5% fatigue life is
denoted by ⌬ 5 , using a K value appropriate for a four-point bend-
ing configuration leads to a resilient modulus of the form
Pa 共 3L 2 ⫺4a 2 兲
M R⫽
48I⌬ 5
where M R ⫽resilient modulus; P⫽applied repeated load; L⫽ span
length; I ⫽ moment of inertia of the beam cross section; and a
⫽L/3. The resilient moduli calculated in this fashion are provided
in Table 1 共column 9兲. It is found that the resilient modulus for the
proposed base course composite varies between 0.70 to 1.1 GPa.
Mitchell and Shen 共1967兲 determined the resilient modulus of soil
cement in flexure using silty clay stabilized with 3 and 13% ce-
ment and sand stabilized with 7% cement. In that study, the au-
thors presented a relationship between the flexural strength and
the resilient modulus for these three soil cements in a log–log
plot similar to that shown in Fig. 9. Superimposed on their results
are the values determined from the recycled aggregate beam
specimens in this study and several points from an earlier study
on stabilized recycled aggregate 共Sobhan and Krizek 1998兲. A
best-fit curve through all of the points has the following form
(R 2 ⫽0.95):
636 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003
Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
Fig. 9. Relationship between flexural strength and resilient modulus
(3)
ln共 M R 兲 ⫽1.808S f ⫹5.64 (5)
where M R ⫽resilient modulus and S f ⫽flexural strength. Since the
recycled aggregate specimens had almost similar strengths, they
form a cluster about the best-fit curve. It is concluded that the
resilient modulus 共which is necessary for implementing a
mechanistic-empirical design兲 of this new composite can be rea-
sonably estimated from its static flexural strength using Fig. 9 or
Eq. 共5兲, thus eliminating the need for undertaking a more expen-
sive and time consuming dynamic repeated load test program.
Damage Studies
A highway foundation is subjected to repeated flexural stress in-
duced by moving vehicles, and if the number of repetitions is
sufficiently large, these stresses will ultimately cause fatigue fail-
ure. The degradation of the elastic modulus and the accumulation
of plastic strain often characterize progressive damage caused by
repeated loads. In this study, the dynamic elastic modulus of the
beam at each cycle was computed by replacing ⌬ 5 with ⌬ R 共re-
(4) coverable deformation兲 for each cycle in Eq. 共4兲. Fig. 10 shows
the variation of dynamic elastic modulus with cycles ratio, N/N f
共ratio of the number of cycles applied to the total number of
cycles to failure兲 for beams FR7, FR8, FR9, and FR10. It is
observed that the dynamic elastic modulus remains almost un-
changed for all specimens except FR10, which showed a rapid
degradation trend after 80% of fatigue life. This observation tends
to justify the concept of using a constant elastic modulus to per-
form layered elastic analysis of pavements as opposed to using
nonlinear functions to estimate material properties.
Dissipated Energy Concept
When a specimen is loaded it stores strain energy and releases
most of the energy when it is unloaded. The energy recovered is
called the elastic strain energy. During each cycle, some energy is
dissipated; this is termed the plastic strain energy, and it accumu-

Fig. 10. Modulus degradation curves for representation beam
specimens
lates according to the number of cycles. The plastic energy at
each cycle can be computed by determining the area inside the
hysteresis loop as shown in Fig. 8. Summation of the areas en-
closed by the loop at every cycle will result in the total energy
dissipation capacity, E tot , which is a material property at a given
stress level. The material will fail when this capacity is exceeded.
A damage index, D, can be defined as 共Grzybowski and Meyer
1993兲
E as follows:
D⫽
E tot
where E⫽the cumulative energy dissipated for a given number of
cycles. Damage index D is plotted in Fig. 11 versus cycles ratio
(N/N f ) for various strip-reinforced specimens. The straight line at
Fig. 11. Variation of damage with cycles ratio
JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003 / 637
Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
45° represents Miner’s linear damage accumulation rule 共Miner
1945兲, which has the following expression for variable stress lev-
els:
n
兺 Nii ⫽1 (7)
where n i ⫽number of cycles at stress level i; and N i ⫽total number
of cycles to failure at stress level i. A material will fail when the
sum of the damage ratio is equal to 1. Based on this limited
number of tests, Fig. 11 shows that the proposed alternative base
course material approximately follows the Miner rule. Knowledge
of the accumulated damage sustained by the pavement up to a
given point 共obtained from Fig. 11兲 is important, because the
remaining life of the pavement can be estimated from this infor-
mation, and a suitable rehabilitation strategy can be undertaken.
Discussion and Conclusions
In this paper, the fatigue and damage behavior of an alternative
pavement foundation material that incorporated recycled aggre-
gate, fly ash, and waste HDPE strips was reported. A comparison
with similar unreinforced specimens demonstrated that the use of
shredded HDPE strips did not provide meaningful improvement
of fatigue behavior. As mentioned previously, the observed per-
formance should be regarded as a preliminary trend in behavior,
because only a few specimens were used in the fatigue studies
reported in this paper. The promising concept of recycling large
amounts of shredded plastics to our highway infrastructure should
be evaluated with caution, and more comprehensive investiga-
tions should be undertaken to assess the true potential of these
new emerging materials. The current study is a necessary initial
step in that direction. The significant findings can be summarized
(6)
1. The performance of the proposed stabilized base course
under flexural fatigue loading depicted by the S–N relation-
ships is comparable to other traditional stabilized pavement
materials;
2. The 2-million cycle fatigue endurance limit for this compos-
ite is approximately 50% of the static flexural strength;
3. The resilient modulus in flexure ranges between approxi-
mately 0.7 共100,000 psi兲 and 1.1 GPa 共160,000 psi兲;
4. The dynamic elastic modulus remains relatively constant
共degrades slowly兲 for most specimens up to the end of fa-
tigue life;
5. The accumulation of damage in the material due to repeated
load cycles closely follows Miner’s rule of cumulative dam-
age.
Acknowledgments
This work was conducted at New Mexico State University and
was sponsored by the Recycled Materials Resource Center at the
University of New Hampshire, with funds received from FHWA/
USDOT.
References
American Concrete Institute 共ACI兲. 共1994兲. ‘‘Abstract of ‘State-of-the-art
report on roller compacted concrete pavements.’ ’’ ACI Mater. J., 9共5兲,
509–510.
American Concrete Institute 共ACI兲 Committee 544. 共1990兲. ‘‘Consider-
ations for design of concrete structures subjected to fatigue loading.’’
ACI Manual of Concrete Practice, Part I, 215-1–215-25.
American Concrete Pavement Association 共ACPA兲. 共1993兲. ‘‘Concrete
pavement technology: Recycling concrete pavement.’’ ACPA, Skokie,
Ill. 1–19.
American Society for Testing and Materials 共ASTM兲. 共1999兲. ‘‘Compres-
sive strength of concrete using portions of beams broken in flexure.’’
Annual book of ASTM standards, ASTM No. C116-90, ASTM, Phila-
delphia, 4.02, p. 53.
Benson, C. H., and Khire, M. V. 共1994兲. ‘‘Reinforcing sand with strips of
reclaimed high-density polyethylene.’’ J. Geotech. Eng., 120共5兲, 838 –
855.
EPA. 共1992兲. ‘‘Characterization of Municipal Solid Wastes in the Unitd
Sates: 1992 Update,’’ Rep. No. EPA 530-R-97-019, Environmental
Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., 2–12.
Federal Highway Administration 共FHWA兲. 共1992兲. ‘‘Soil and base stabi-
lization and associated drainage considerations: Vol. I, Pavement de-
sign and construction considerations.’’ Rep. No. FHWA-SA-93-004,
Federal Highway Administration, Washington, D.C.
Federal Highway Administration 共FHWA兲. 共1994兲. ‘‘A feasibility study of
the use of waste materials in highway construction.’’ Rep. No. FHWA-
SC-94-01, U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Ad-
ministration, Washington, D.C.
Grzybowski, M., and Meyer, C. 共1993兲. ‘‘Damage accumulation in con-
crete with and without fiber reinforcement.’’ ACI Mater. J., 90共6兲,
594 – 604.
Johnston, C. D., and Zemp, R. W. 共1991兲. ‘‘Flexural fatigue performance
of steel fiber reinforced concrete—Influence of fiber content, aspect
ratio, and type. ’’ ACI Mater. J., 88共4兲, 374 –383.
Miner, M. A. 共1945兲. ‘‘Cumulative Damage in Fatigue.’’ Trans. ASME,
67, A159–A164.
Mitchell, J. K., and Shen, C.-K. 共1967兲. ‘‘Soil–cement properties deter-
mined by repeated loading in relation to bases for flexible pave-
ments.’’ Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on the Structural Design of Asphalt
Pavements, Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., 348 –373.
Nanni, A. 共1989兲. ‘‘Properties and design of fiber reinforced roller com-
pacted concrete.’’ Transportation Research Record No. 1226, Trans-
638 / JOURNAL OF GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING © ASCE / JULY 2003
Downloaded 04 Jan 2012 to 194.225.239.149. Redistribution subject to ASCE license or copyright. Visit http://www.ascelibrary.org
portation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 61– 68.
Nanni, A., and Johari, A. 共1989兲. ‘‘RCC pavement reinforced with steel
fibers.’’ ACI Mater. J., 13共3兲, 54 – 60.
National Cooperative Highway Research Program 共NCHRP兲. 共1994兲.
‘‘Recycling and use of waste materials and by-products in highway
construction.’’ NCHRP Synthesis No. 199, Transportation Research
Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C.
Papp, W. J., Maher, M. H., Bennert, T. A., and Gucunski, N. 共1998兲.
‘‘Behavior of Construction and Demolition Debris in Base and Sub-
base Applications,’’ Geotechnical Special Publication No. 79, Re-
cycled Materials in Geotechnical Applications, ASCE, 122–136.
Ramakrishnan, V., Wu, G. Y., and Hosalli, G. 共1989兲. ‘‘Flexural fatigue
strength, endurance limit, and impact strengths of fiber reinforced
concrete.’’ Transportation Research Record No. 1226, Transportation
Research Board, Washington, D.C., 17–24.
Sobhan, K., and Krizek, R. J. 共1998兲. ‘‘Resilient properties and fatigue
damage in stabilized recycled aggregate base course material.’’ Trans-
portation Research Record No. 1611, Transportation Research Board,
Washington, D.C., 28 –37.
Sobhan, K., and Krizek, R. J. 共1999兲. ‘‘Fatigue behavior of fiber-
reinforced recycled aggregate base course.’’ J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 11共2兲,
124 –130.
Sobhan, K., and Mashnad, M. 共2001兲. ‘‘A Roller Compacted Fiber-
Concrete Pavement Foundation with Recycled Aggregate and Waste
Plastics.’’ Transportation Research Record No. 1775, Transportation
Research Board, Washington, D.C., 53– 63.
Sobhan, K., Jesick, M. R., Dedominicis, E. J., McFadden, J. P., Cooper,
K. A., and Roe, J. R. 共1999兲. ‘‘A soil–cement–fly ash pavement base
course reinforced with recycled plastic fibers.’’ 78th Annual Meeting
of the Transportation Research Board, Transportation Research
Board, Washington, D.C.
Thompson, M. R. 共1994兲. ‘‘High-strength stabilized base thickness design
procedure.’’ Transportation Research Record No. 1440, Transporta-
tion Research Board, Washington, D.C., 1–7.
Vinson, T. S. 共1990兲. ‘‘Fundamentals of resilient modulus testing.’’ Rep.
No. FHwA-TS-90-031, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Dept.
of Transportation, Washington, D.C.