  Resurfacing a moderately deteriorated Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement
with asphalt concrete (AC) layers is considered an efficient rehabilitation
practice. However, reflective cracks may develop shortly after resurfacing
because of discontinuities (e.g. joints and cracks) in existing PCC pavement.
In this paper, a new accelerated full-scale testing approach was developed to
study reflective crack growth in AC overlays. Two hydraulic actuators were used
to simulate a moving dual-tire assembly with a loading rate of more than
five-thousand-wheel passes per hour. A load cycle consists of three steps,
simulating a tire approaching, moving across, and leaving a PCC discontinuity.
Experiments were conducted to compare the reflective crack behaviour of two
overlay configurations. Both test sections were fully cracked in less than an
hour. The initiation and propagation of reflective cracks were explicitly
documented using crack detectors in conjunction with a camera. The proposed
full-scale testing protocol offers a repeatable and efficient approach to
systematically investigate the effects of various overlay configurations, thus
enabling the identification of optimal design against reflective cracking.
