OPENING-MODE CRACKING IN ASPHALTPAVEMENTS: CRACK INITIATION AND SATURATION
<p>This paper investigates the crack initiation and saturation for opening-mode cracking. Using elastic governing equations and a weak form stress boundary condition, we derive an explicit solution of elastic fields in the surface course and obtain the energy release rate, so that opening-mode cracking initiation can be determined by fracture energy criterion. Interestingly, the longitudinal stress between such cracks along the surface undergoes a transition from tensile to compressive with increasing applied tensile loading, which implies crack saturation.