Evaluation of Modeling Techniques Based on Fracture Mechanics for Analysis of Cracking Behavior of Asphalt Mixtures

Given the importance of asphalt pavement failures caused by cracking and its relation with the fracture properties of asphalt materials, this paper is dealt with evaluation of asphalt concrete fracture mechanism modeling methods. Modeling methods including cohesive zone models, embedded discontinuity method (EDM), displacement discontinuity boundary element method (DDM), the discrete element method (DEM), the extended finite element method (XFEM) and digital image correlation technique to evaluate fracture and cracking behavior of asphalt mixtures, were considered. Finally, hybrid modeling method (including both finite element method and boundary element method) associated with the use of image processing to determine the microstructures were recommended to investigate the fracture properties of commonly-used asphalt mixtures.