Evaluation of Fatigue Life of Asphalt Mixtures Through Dissipated Energy Approach

Fatigue cracking constitutes a main type of distress for flexible pavement, and therefore developing adequate fatigue models is one of the key challenges in the mechanistic-empirical design method. One of the most popular test procedures used to determine susceptibility to fatigue cracking in the laboratory is the beam flexural test. The results are usually interpreted in terms of a relationship between applied stress or strain and number of cycles to failure. Although this phenomenological approach provides some guidance necessary to understand fatigue performance of asphalt concrete pavements, it is essentially an empirical approach that requires continuous calibration since the relationship between the parameters is not unique and depends on material properties and loading mode, among others. The dissipated energy approach is based on the determination of the plateau value (PV), a fundamental property which has a unique relationship with the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures. The main objective of this research was to evaluate the dissipated energy approach as an alternative to assess the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures in Costa Rica. This study used historical data from the beam flexural fatigue test to validate the relationship between the plateau value and the number of cycles to failure and evaluated several models for the prediction of PV. The results showed that the dissipated energy approach is a more accurate alternative for fatigue analysis and the models developed can eventually be applied to pavement design without the need for extensive testing.

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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFK50 Characteristics of Asphalt Paving Mixtures to Meet Structural Requirements.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Vargas-Nordcbeck, Adriana
  • Aguiar-Moya, José Pablo
  • Leiva-Villacorta, Fabricio
  • Loria-Salazar, Luis
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
• Date: 2015

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 16p
• Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt concrete pavements; Asphalt mixtures; Computer models; Dissipation; Evaluation; Fatigue strength; Pavement design
• Geographic Terms: Costa Rica
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Materials; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I31: Bituminous Binders and Materials; I32: Concrete;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01555125
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 15-0956
• Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 26 2015 10:03AM