Robert L. Lytton

Limits on Adhesive Bond Energy for Improved Resistance of Hot-Mix Asphalt to Moisture Damage

The loss of physical adhesion between the aggregate and the asphalt binder is one of the important mechanisms that accelerate moisture damage in hot-mix asphalt pavements. In this study, two parameters related to bond energy—adhesive bond energy between the aggregate and the asphalt and reduction of free energy when asphalt debonds from the aggregate surface in the presence of moisture—were quantified with surface energies of both materials. Threshold values of these parameters to identify asphalt-aggregate combinations susceptible to premature moisture damage were derived by comparison of the values of these parameters with observed field performance for several mixes. Results show significant differences in bond energies developed between various aggregates and a given binder. This finding illustrates the importance of binder-aggregate compatibility and the sensitivity of calculated bond strength to surface energy measurements. Asphalt binders from different sources with the same performance grade were ...

MOISTURE DAMAGE EVALUATION OF ASPHALT MIXTURES BY CONSIDERING BOTH MOISTURE DIFFUSION AND REPEATED-LOAD CONDITIONS

Two moisture damage models based on major moisture failure mechanisms are proposed. The adhesion failure model was developed to analyze the adhesive fracture between asphalt and aggregate in the presence of water. Cohesive and adhesive fractures in an asphalt-aggregate system are directly related to the surface energy characteristics of asphalt and aggregate. The surface energy of adhesion with or without the presence of water can be calculated from the surface energies of asphalt and aggregate. A moisture diffusion model was developed based on the one-dimensional consolidation of soil and a gas adsorption model. The moisture diffusion model was used to obtain the moisture diffusion characteristics of asphalt binders, including the amount of moisture that can permeate a binder and the diffusivity of the binder. The amount of moisture that permeates a binder is identified as a key factor in the moisture damage. Finally, mechanics-based experiments conducted on asphalt mixtures validated the results from the adhesion failure and diffusion models.

Prediction of Permanent Deformation in Flexible Pavement Materials

This paper presents a method to predict the permanent deformation (rutting) in pavements using a mechanistic-empirical model of material characterization. Three permanent deformation parameters are developed through material testing to simply represent the curved relationship between permanent strains and the number of load cycles. Equations are developed by regression analysis which determine how these three parameters are affected by the material properties, environmental conditions (moisture and temperature), and stress state. These relations are important in calculating the permanent deformation of pavement layers since the relation between permanent deformation and cycles of load from the laboratory is usually examined in test conditions that are significantly different from field conditions. The permanent deformations calculated from the method presented are compared with results measured in the field in Florida and are found to be accurate. The permanent deformation obtained is shown to be in reasonable agreement with the measured results. It is demonstrated that this method provides an appropriate and realistic analysis of prediction of the permanent deformation, and further, the results are used in the prediction of the loss of serviceability index of pavements using the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Road Test relation. The paper demonstrates the importance of accurate materials characterization in predicting the rutting of asphalt concrete pavements on granular base course. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 862156.

Use of geotextiles for reinforcement and strain relief in asphalt concrete

Abstract This paper describes the three uses of geotextiles in asphaltic concrete overlays: (a) reinforcing (b) strain relief and (c) undersealing. Reflection cracking through overlays is caused by both loads and thermal contraction, and cracks may be retarded or arrested by geotextiles if the proper material properties are selected and good construction techniques are used. Prediction of crack growth is made with fracture mechanics and this is the basis of an overlay design computer program which is described herein. Fracture properties of asphaltic concrete under fatigue loading and thermal contraction conditions are presented and the way they are altered by the addition of geotextiles is illustrated. The design equations for the thickness of an overlay with a reinforcing grid are also given. Some cautionary rules of thumb, concerning the appropriate pavement conditions when geotextiles may be expected to prolong the life of an overlay and when they may not, are also given.

Effect of Moisture Damage on Material Properties and Fatigue Resistance of Asphalt Mixtures

Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) has been used successfully to evaluate complex characteristics of fatigue damage and fracture of asphalt binders and mastics by measuring fundamental viscoelastic properties and damage characteristics. DMA was used to define the effect of moisture on fatigue damage and to concentrate on the fatigue damage susceptibility of the sand and asphalt mixture mastic fraction. Dynamic frequency sweep and time sweep tests were performed on cylindrical sand-asphalt samples in a dry state and after being subjected to moisture saturation. Test results clearly indicate that moisture reduces viscoelastic stiffness, fatigue resistance, and eventually fatigue life of sand-asphalt. The mechanistic role of moisture in fatigue was analyzed and quantified by using nonlinear viscoelastic theory based on pseudovariable concepts and a continuum damage fatigue model. The effect of material surface energies, which is strongly related to fracture and damage, is further discussed by using DMA fatigue test results and varying surface energy characteristics of individual mixture constituents. The DMA experimental procedure and analysis is an efficient way to identify the influence of moisture and to compare sand-asphalt mixtures in terms of moisture susceptibility.

SURFACE ENERGY MEASUREMENT OF ASPHALT AND ITS APPLICATION TO PREDICTING FATIGUE AND HEALING IN ASPHALT MIXTURES

Cohesive and adhesive bonding within the asphalt—aggregate system are directly related to the surface energy of the asphalt. The thermodynamic changes in the surface energy of adhesion and cohesion are related to the de-bonding of the interface between asphalt and aggregate and to cracks that may occur within the mastic, respectively. However, it is also true that thermodynamic changes in the surface energy are required to heal a fracture between the surfaces of the asphalt and the aggregate or within the mastic. The methodology and testing protocol for measuring the surface energy of asphalt are presented. Both the surface energy of dewetting (fracture) and the surface energy of wetting (healing) can be obtained from the contact angle measurement with the Wilhelmy plate method. Ten asphalts were tested; surface energies varied substantially as a function of asphalt composition and the level of aging to which the asphalt was subjected. By using thermodynamic theory, the adhesion and cohesion bonding energy within the asphaltaggregate systems were further analyzed. This analysis has the potential to select the most compatible asphalt—aggregate combination for mixtures. The surface energy is also a very important parameter in the fatigue and healing analysis of the asphalt pavement.

A unified method for the analysis of controlled-strain and controlled-stress fatigue testing

Fatigue cracking is one of the primary distresses in asphalt pavements. This study presents a method to characterize fatigue resistance of the fine portion of the asphalt mixture using the dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). Three mixtures were characterized in controlled-strain and controlled-stress modes of loading. The new method has several advantages as it requires reasonable testing time, uses a small amount of material, utilizes fundamental properties of the mixture, and is able to unify the results from controlled-strain and controlled-stress modes of loading. The unified method relies on identifying the different mechanisms of energy dissipation during fatigue cracking that are related to changes in the phase angle, changes in stiffness, and development of permanent deformation during the fatigue damage process. Two fatigue damage parameters are derived in this paper. The parameters are shown to have reasonable and lower coefficients of variation than conventional parameters such as number of loading cycles to failure and cumulative dissipated energy.

Soil Suction Measurements by Filter Paper

This paper reports on an evaluation of wetting and drying filter paper suction calibration and soil total and matric suction measurement techniques of filter paper method. Calibration of the method was investigated by constructing two calibration curves; one by using the process of wetting the filter papers through vapor flow and the other by using the method of drying the filter papers through fluid flow. The wetting curve was constructed using sodium chloride (NaCl) salt solutions and Schleicher & Schuell No. 589-WH filter papers. It was found that the change in the wetting suction curve is very sensitive to minor changes in filter paper water content below about 1.5 log kPa (2.5 pF) suction. The drying curve was established by employing both pressure plate and pressure membrane devices and the same filter papers. In developing the filter paper calibration curves, the capabilities, pitfalls, and limitations of the method are also discussed.

Backcalculation of Pavement Layer Properties

This paper was prepared for the symposium as a state-of-the-art paper. The paper summarizes the history and present use of nondestructive testing (NDT) and speculates on future developments and uses of NDT in backcalculating pavement layer properties. The paper concentrates on the backcalculation of the elastic stiffness of pavement layers. Measurement methods include a variety of methods of applying loads to the pavement and a number of sensors of the pavement response. Loading methods include static or slowly moving loads, vibration, near field impulse, and wave propagation which applies to far field measurements. A fundamental distinction is drawn between near field impulse loads which closely simulate traffic loads and far field impulse loads, the results of which must be corrected substantially to provide realistic pavement layer moduli.

CHARACTERIZING ASPHALT PAVEMENTS FOR PERFORMANCE

Having fast computers with lots of memory makes it possible to make performance predictions using mechanics, which simply could not have been done even as recently as 3 or 4 years ago. This trend can be expected to continue. Pavement materials, whether asphalt concrete, base course, or subgrade, can now be characterized in realistic ways that were simply unavailable to pavement engineers. The dependence of these materials on stress state, moisture, temperature, strain rate, and damage is what has made their characterization difficult, if not impossible. This complexity has posed an almost insuperable problem for computational mechanics and for the linkage of these properties to construction specifications on the one hand and performance of in-service pavements on the other. Although these tasks will never be simple, the tools to work on them are becoming more adequate. Some examples are given of how one can proceed to simplicity through complexity in several areas that are important to pavement performance. In every case, one must be able to measure a property of the material that can be used as input to a computer program, principally a finite element program, that allows material properties to change from point to point. Several examples are given in the categories of material properties, material behavior, materials testing in the laboratory, nondestructive testing in the field, and performance prediction models. Laboratory testing, materials characterization and properties, nondestructive testing of pavements in service, construction specifications, pavement variability and reliability, field data collection, performance prediction modeling, and prediction of pavement response and distress with modern computer methods—taken individually, these subjects look complex. Combined with the glue of mechanics, they are simplicity itself. And they confirm Alfred North Whitehead’s principle, “The only simplicity that can be trusted is that which lies beyond complexity.”