Study on crack resistance of self-healing microcapsules in asphalt pavement by multi-scale method

Self-healing microcapsules in the asphalt pavement must be kept intact under vehicle load to ensure there is enough rejuvenator in capsules when cracks appear in asphalt pavement. In this paper, the crack resistance of self-healing microcapsules in asphalt pavement was evaluated. Firstly, an expanding multi-scale analysis was conducted based on proposed mesoscopic mechanical models with the aim to determine the mechanical parameters for the following contracting multi-scale analysis. Secondly, the periodic boundary condition was introduced for the contracting multi-scale analysis and the stress field of the capsule wall was obtained. Finally, the effects of the design parameters of the microcapsule on its crack resistance in asphalt pavement were investigated. The results showed that the incorporation of microcapsules has almost no effect on the elastic constants of the asphalt mixture. The core could be simplified as an approximately incompressible solid with the elastic constants determined by the proposed mesoscopic mechanical model. With the increase of the modulus of the capsule wall, the mean maximum tensile stress of the capsule wall increased from 0.372 MPa to 0.465 MPa, while with the decrease of the relative radius of the capsule core, the mean maximum tensile stress of the capsule wall increased from 0.349 MPa to 0.461 MPa. The change in the mean maximum tensile stress of the capsule wall caused by the change of capsule diameter was within 5%. The relative radius of the capsule core and the elastic modulus of capsule wall were two key parameters in capsule design. Besides, the microcapsules with the wall made of resin would not crack under the vehicle load before microcracks occurred in asphalt pavement.