Experimental and theoretical investigation on the effect of carbon nanotubes on flexible pavement

Abstract

One of the most recently application for pavement performance improvement is the application of nonmaterial technology. The objectives of this research are to study the beneficial effect of using Nano Carbon Tube (NCTs) on the behaviour of asphalt mixture as preliminary indications and on the performance behaviour of flexible pavement system as a final investigation . The obtained experimental and finite element modelling results showed that adding (0.1%) and (1%) NCTs improved the stability value of asphalt mixture about (15%) and the addition of 0.5 % reduced the flow value around (2%) which means providing enhancement for rutting resistance. High elastic modulus value of (14000 MPa) are obtained at (0.5%) NCTs. This demonstrated the significant improvement of mechanical properties of modified asphalt mixtures as compared with control mix. The experimental results demonstrated the beneficial applications of carbon nanotubes NCTs additives to minimize the effect of moisture susceptibility for hot asphalt mixtures at (0.1%). The modified asphalt mixture with NCTs decreased the resistance to fatigue damage life of flexible pavement at (0.1%) and (0 .5 %) NCTs but provide improve the fatigue resistance by about (10%) at (1%) NCTs and improved the resistance to rutting damage significantly about (83%), (233%), and (250%) for (0.1%), (0.5%) and (1%) NCTs respectively.