Dynamic Viscoelastic Behavior of Epoxy Asphalt Mixture under Four-Point Bending

Abstract

Given the dominant failure mode of steel bridge deck pavement layers, which is flexural–tensile damage, the dynamic modulus parameters conventionally determined through uniaxial compression testing are found to be inadequate for the design or performance analysis of these layers. In order to simulate the actual stress of a pavement structure under wheel load, the four-point bending fatigue test method and uniaxial compression test method are used to measure the dynamic modulus of an epoxy asphalt mixture, and the differences between the two test methods are analyzed. Furthermore, the four-point bending fatigue test is employed to investigate the dynamic modulus and phase angle properties across varying temperatures and frequencies, facilitating the creation of master curves for these properties and utilizing Sigmoidal models to correlate dynamic modulus data at diverse temperature conditions. This study delves into the influence of epoxy resin content, mixture composition, and aging on the dynamic modulus. The experimental results show that the dynamic modulus measured by uniaxial compression exceeds that obtained from bending fatigue tests, with the difference initially increasing and then decreasing as temperature rises. This discrepancy significantly impacts the mechanical calculations of pavement layers, underscoring the importance of selecting the appropriate testing method. Temperature, frequency, and epoxy resin content have pronounced effects on the viscoelastic properties of the mixtures. Specifically, as temperature increases, the dynamic modulus undergoes a decrease, whereas the phase angle exhibits an increase. Additionally, the dynamic modulus augments with an increase in loading frequency, while the phase angle exhibits varied trends with frequency shifts across different temperatures. Both the WLF and Sigmoidal models are effective in constructing master curve representations for the dynamic flexural modulus and phase angle. The incorporation of epoxy resin transforms asphalt from a primarily viscous to a more elastic material, significantly enhancing the viscoelastic properties of the mixture. Notably, mixtures with 50% and 60% epoxy resin content exhibit comparable dynamic moduli and phase angles, while displaying notably superior performance compared to those with 40% epoxy resin content. For large-scale steel bridge deck pavement, 50% epoxy resin content is recommended. Moreover, epoxy asphalt mixtures demonstrate robust aging resistance, with minimal variations in the dynamic modulus and phase angle before and after aging. The research results can enable the acquisition of dynamic modulus and phase angle data in the whole temperature domain and the whole frequency domain, and provide reliable mixed performance parameters for the study of different application environmental performance of steel bridge deck pavement.