Abstract
Low temperature cracking is a serious distress for asphalt pavement built in cold regions, such as the northern U.S. and northern Europe. Therefore, accurate assessment of the strength and fracture properties of asphalt mixtures is fundamental for ensuring the long term integrity of the entire pavement structure. It has been shown that asphalt mixtures behave in a quasibrittle manner at low temperatures and, consequently, their nominal strength strongly depends on the structure size. Most of the research performed in the past has experimentally addressed this phenomenon either on unnotched or deep-notched specimens corresponding to Type I and Type II size effects, respectively. However, the evolution of the pavement conditions during the service life can lead to the formation and propagation of cracks which strongly affect the response of the material and, eventually, determine a complex size effect. In this paper a comprehensive experimental study is performed to evaluate the effect of different notch depths on the scaling law for quasibrittle fracture. Three-point bending tests are performed on plain and notched asphalt mixture beams of different sizes at low temperature. The results on unnotched specimens are analyzed through the Type I energetic-statistical size effect law (SEL) in combination with the weakest link model, while, in the case of deep notched specimens, the Type II SEL is used. A significant variation in the evolution of the SEL is observed with a dramatic decrease in strength over size and notch length. In addition, an empirical relation between the initial fracture energy, Gf, and the total fracture energy, GF, is found, and the characteristic length, Cf, associated to the length of fracture process zone, is determined.
Original language | English (US) |
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Title of host publication | Asphalt Paving Technology 2016 - Journal of the Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists, AAPT 2016 |
Editors | Rebecca S. McDaniel, Randy West, Geoffrey Rowe, Reynaldo Roque, Y. Richard Kim, Matthew Corrigan, Ramon Bonaquist, Audrey Copeland, Jo Daniel, Gaylon Baumgardner, Brian Prowell |
Publisher | Association of Asphalt Paving Technologist |
Pages | 349-378 |
Number of pages | 30 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 9781605954042 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2016 |
Event | Asphalt Paving Technology 2016, AAPT 2016 - Indianapolis, United States Duration: Mar 13 2016 → Mar 16 2016 |
Publication series
Name | Asphalt Paving Technology: Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists-Proceedings of the Technical Sessions |
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Volume | 85 |
ISSN (Print) | 0270-2932 |
Other
Other | Asphalt Paving Technology 2016, AAPT 2016 |
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Country/Territory | United States |
City | Indianapolis |
Period | 3/13/16 → 3/16/16 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016 Taylor & Francis.
Keywords
- Asphalt mixture
- Fracture properties
- Nominal strength
- Size effect
- Three-point bending