The theoretical part of the paper presents the framework of the digital image correlation (DIC) method as well as its advantages and limitations. The DIC technique that can be used in static and fatigue tests is a non-contact, non-interferometric optical method for measuring the surface deformation of structural elements, and material samples. In the experimental part of the paper, the implementation of the DIC method for the selected laboratory tests of building materials is described. The results of the tests on the samples of the materials used in road construction, i.e., asphalt mixtures (HMA), stone, soil stabilized with a hydraulic binder, and geosynthetics are discussed. The conducted research pointed out the possibilities of using the DIC method to evaluate the deformation of road materials in laboratory tests, taking into account their specificity. The variety of samples of tested material allowed to indicate the areas in which the DIC method and the algorithms used to evaluate the results give a significant advantage compared to tensometric measurement methods.

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This paper describes the analyses of the fatigue life of the asphalt pavement reinforced with geogrid interlayer under traffic loading. Finite Element ANSYS package with using nCode applications, as well as macros specially designed in APDL programming script and VBA were used to model the considered problem. Our analysis included computation of stress, fatigue life, damage matrix and rainflow matrix. The method applied was the one of fatigue calculation: stress -number of cycles in short S-N. On the basis of the performed high cycle fatigue analysis, the influence of the location of the used geogrid and of its bond with asphalt layers on the fatigue life and the work of the asphalt pavement structure were determined. The study was carried out for three temperature seasons i.e. spring and fall (assumed as one season), winter and summer. The variability of the traffic conditions were taken into account by assuming weekly blocks of traffic loading. The calculations were made using the real values of loading measured in field tests on the German highways by means of HS-WIM weighing system. As a result of the performed tests, it was proved that the use of geogrid-reinforcement may prolong the fatigue life of the asphalt pavement. However, it is required that: the geogrid should be located in the tension zone as low as possible in the structure of the asphalt layers. Moreover, it is necessary to provide high stiffness of the bond between the geogrid and the asphalt layers.