Effects of Mixture Design Factors on Results of Semicircular Bending Test

Fracture mechanics tests have been widely used for asphalt mixtures over the last few decades. Among the many tests for characterizing the asphalt mixtures at intermediate temperature, the Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) test has gained a lot of popularity in recent times due to its simplicity, reproducibility, and flexibility in testing and evaluation. The SCB test is based on elastic-plastic fracture mechanics concept, which characterizes different mixtures using the critical strain energy release rate, or J-integral (Jc). This paper includes a large study to investigate the effect of different mixture design parameters (including percent binder replacement, binder modification, low temperature binder grade, oxidative aging, and mix design traffic level) using the SCB-LSU test. The results show that the Jc parameter estimated from the SCB-LSU test is not sensitive to the different mix designs parameters changed in the study, which covers a wide range of factors defining mixtures widely used in the State of Wisconsin. To further study the significance of the mix factors controlled, ANOVA and multi-linear regression analyses are used to show that only a few factors can have significant effect, but the significance of those factors could not explain the range in response variables from the SCB-LSU, except for the peak load parameter. The trends in change in SCB response with aging and some other factors are also found to be illogical. The study does not offer solutions, but points out some of the challenges in using the SCB-LSU test in performance specifications for mixtures used in cold climates.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFK50 Standing Committee on Structural Requirements of Asphalt Mixtures. Alternate title: Effects of Mixture Design Factors on Results of Semi Circular Bend (SCB-LSU) Test.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Mandal, Tirupan
  • Ling, Cheng
  • Chaturabong, Preeda
  • Bahia, Hussain U
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
• Date: 2017

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asphalt mixtures; Frigid regions; Mix design; Performance based specifications
• Uncontrolled Terms: Fracture energy; Fracture resistance; Semi-circular bending test
• Geographic Terms: Wisconsin
• Subject Areas: Highways; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01626248
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 17-06284
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 20 2017 4:44PM