Performance of coconut fiber as bitumen modifier in asphalt mixture influence to fatigue resistance

One of the most prevalent challenges faced in road construction is pavement distresses produced by ageing asphalt pavement, which resulted in fatigue cracking. Fatigue cracking is regarded as one of the primary failure types when the tension in the bituminous layer is low due to high vehicle traffic load repetition. The study focuses on evaluating the performance of coconut fiber as modifier in bitumen penetration grade 60/70. The addition of 0.5%, 0.75% and 1% were used in this study to determine the effect on asphalt mixture. Indirect tensile fatigue test were conducted to determine the life cycle of the sample. The result showed that the increasing percentage of coconut fiber will improve the bitumen physical properties and increased the life cycle of asphalt mixture. In this study, 1% coconut fiber produced the best result. In conclusion, the addition of coconut fiber into bitumen can improve the performance of asphalt mixture in term of fatigue resistance.