Cohesive zone model to predict fracture in bituminous materials and asphaltic pavements: state-of-the-art review

Cohesive zone (CZ) modelling has been receiving increasing attention from the asphaltic materials and pavement mechanics community as a mechanistic approach to model crack initiation and propagation in materials and structures. The CZ model provides a powerful and efficient tool that can be easily implemented in existing computational methods for brittle, quasi-brittle and ductile failure as well as interfacial fracture, all of which are frequently observed in asphaltic materials. Accordingly, this paper introduces the CZ modelling approach in the form of a state-of-the-art review addressing the concept of CZ modelling, CZ constitutive relations, their implementation into computational methods and up-to-date applications of CZ modelling to bituminous mixtures and pavement structures. This paper also includes a brief discussion on the current challenges that researchers face and the future directions to the modelling of fracture in bituminous materials and pavements. CZ modelling is not a topic that can be possibly discussed in a single article; therefore, it should be clearly noted that this review primarily attempts to deliver some of the core aspects of CZ modelling in the area of bituminous composites.