Comparison between fatigue performance of horizontal cores from different asphalt pavement depths and laboratory specimens

Abstract

This study presents a comparison between the fatigue performance of field cores obtained from different layers (top and bottom) and laboratory produced–laboratory compacted specimens. The field cores were obtained from the Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) facility at Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), located in McLean, Virginia, USA. Uniaxial push-pull (compression-tension) fatigue tests were conducted on samples obtained from the top 50 mm and the bottom 50 mm layers of 100 mm thick asphalt pavements. The samples were obtained by horizontally coring slabs extracted from six APT lanes. The damage characteristic curves (i.e., C versus S curve of the viscoelastic continuum damage (VECD) theory) and the fatigue lives of the field cores were compared with those of the laboratory specimens. The experimental test results and the subsequent analysis findings revealed comparable damage characteristic curves and fatigue lives for the top and bottom field specimens; meanwhile, the field and laboratory specimens exhibited different damage characteristic curves and fatigue lives.

Keywords:

• asphalt pavements
• fatigue life
• viscoelastic continuum damage theory (VECD)
• accelerated pavement testing facility
• push-pull (compression-tension) fatigue tests

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Bituminous Mixtures Laboratory staff at the TFHRC, Mr Scott Parobeck and Mr Frank Davis, for preparing the specimens and running the tests. Special thanks are extended to Dr Xicheng Qi for providing the performance data measured at the TFHRC APT facility. Valuable comments by Professor Richard Kim on the viscoelastic continuum damage theory are greatly appreciated.