It is my general experience to observe polygonal cracks on asphalt roads. I am interested to know the mechanism by which these polygonal cracks are developed. Often these polygonal cracks give an outlook of a rose-flower.
I am not sure what you have meant by polygonal cracks. There is a Federal Highway Administration Manual for pavement distress identification with which can determine the exact type of pavement damage. I am attaching the distress manual for your convenience. Both block cracking and fatigue cracking can have polygonal shape. According to Pavement Analysis and Design book by Huang, block cracking is caused by shrinkage of hot mix asphalt and daily temperature cycling, which result in cyclic stress and strain. On the other hand, alligator or fatigue cracking occurs due to repeated traffic applications. Such cracking is considered as a major structural distress and empirically linked to tensile strain at the bottom of HMA layer in the AASHTOWare Pavement Mechanistic Empirical Design methodology
At the moment, I am not able to provide pictures. Albeit these cracks give an image of the flower of rose with spreading petals. Therefore I used the term polygonal cracks. I will provide pictures to get a clear point of view. Please can you provide some insight on cracks/fractures produced by dynamic, cyclic and static loading respectively?