DURABILITY TESTS - A WORD OF CAUTION

DURABILITY TESTS MUST EXAGGERATE CERTAIN DESTRUCTIVE FACTORS IN ORDER TO BE ACCELERATED TESTS. BITUMENS, BECAUSE OF THEIR GEL STRUCTURE, ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO CERTAIN AGENTS, SUCH AS MERE LAPSE OF TIME, MANIPULATION, AND SOLVATION AND DESOLVATION, WHICH ARE USUALLY EITHER COMPLETELY MISSING OR GREATLY OVERPLAYED IN DURABILITY TESTS. SEVERAL EXAMPLES ARE GIVEN TO ILLUSTRATE THIS POINT, SUCH AS THE DIFFERENCE IN PERFORMANCE OF IDENTICAL SHEET ASPHALT, IDENTICALLY EXPOSED, AT THE INTERSECTION OF A BUSY THOROUGHFARE AND AN ALLEY. DURABILITY IN ONE TYPE OF APPLICATION MAY MEAN FAILURE IN ANOTHER. INTELLIGENT INTERPRETATION OF DATA FROM WELL- ESTABLISHED TESTS IS SET FORTH AS THE SAFEST CRITERION FOR AN UNKNOWN PRODUCT. A LONG-RANGE COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAM OF TESTING AND CORRELATION WITH FIELD PERFORMANCE IS RECOMMENDED TO RAISE DURABILITY TESTS FROM THE STATUS OF MERELY THEORETICAL INTEREST TO THAT OF RECOGNIZED AND UNCHALLENGED CRITERIA.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • No 94, pp 100-106
• Authors:
  • Oliensis, G L
• Publication Date: 1949

Media Info

• Serial:
  • Am Soc Testing & Matls Spec Tech Publ

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt pavements; Bitumen; Durability; Materials tests; Pavement performance; Sheet asphalt
• Old TRIS Terms: Bitumen tests
• Subject Areas: Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00210865
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 13 1994 12:00AM