Pavement distresses are numerous and they differ in their shape, type, and origin causes.
Cracking is one of the most commonly observed distresses in asphalt pavement. Hence if these
cracks reflect up to the new overlay, this reduce the service life and the serviceability of the
pavement thus lead to a heavy burden on the exchequer. This investigation studies the effect of
reinforcing the new overlay by geotextile and its influence on the performance of pavement and on
retarding the speed of reflective cracking propagation. So asphaltic beam specimens reinforced
with two types of reinforcement (ALYAF PU 14 nonwoven geotextile and HaTelit c reinforced
geogrid) in the middle as well as in the lower third of the beam depth were tested under the three -
point bending test. The prepared beams include beams with and without initial crack to simulate
the cracked and uncracked layers in the field. The results of three - point bending test were
collected and analyzed by fracture mechanics parameters (fracture toughness KIC, GIC, and J-
Integral) and crack depth ratio, Zr, at failure.
Results show that involving the reinforcement can relevant the speed of crack propagation into the
new overlay and consequently prolong the economic life of the construction. Improve load
carrying capacity via reducing the tensile stress peaks, absorbing some horizontal tensile stresses,
and providing a uniform distribution of loads over a large area. Also HaTelit c geogrid appeared
results better than Alyaf PU 14 nonwoven geotextile.