| This research is presented to develop a methodology for controlling low temperature failures of asphalt mixtures. The prediction of pavement temperatures using numerical analysis methods was performed to calculate temperature gradients in an asphalt pavement system. A series of material experiments using the Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) were undertaken to evaluate the low temperature tensile properties of asphalt mixture beams. Through the statistical analysis, the number of sample replicates was determined to give highway agencies informative guidance on how to prepare samples for quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) during asphalt construction. Viscoelastic modeling was employed to evaluate the effect of aggregate on the thermal properties of asphalt mixtures. The research finally derived a theoretical solution that can be used to directly invert the Laplace transform of the Prony series function and predict relaxation moduli of asphalt mixtures. The objective of the research work is to provide material testing methodologies to facilitate QC/QA operations in asphalt construction through the experiments and viscoelastic analyses. |
