The performance of the pavement is influenced by several factors, such as the pavement structure, materials, traffic, and climate conditions. These factors affect the pavement response, mainly the compressive strain developed at the top of each layer and the tensile strain developed at the bottom of the asphalt concrete layer, resulting in various forms of distresses, such as fatigue cracking. The materials used in the construction of these layers are equally important for the long-term performance of the pavements as well as its structural stability. Aggregates are the most used materials in the construction of base layers in a flexible pavement structure. Moreover, the aggregate used in the base layer provides foundation for the overlying layers and needs to have enough strength, but due to the scarcity of quality materials and the rising demand, base layers are often treated with different types of stabilizing agents. In this study, various mechanistic analyses are performed using the 3-D Move Analysis software to study the effects of lime as a stabilizing agent on fatigue resistance performance. These analyses showed that the use of lime as a stabilizing agent increased the pavement performance up to 48 % for fatigue cracking resistance when compared to untreated base layers. The cost-effectiveness analysis also showed that the use of stabilizing agents would reduce the long-term cost of pavement as compared to untreated bases. The overall cost efficiency of the lime treated base is found to be 1.68 times the untreated base.

Base Treatments; Fatigue Cracking; Mechanistic Analysis; Finite Element Analysis; Lime; Cost Efficiency.