Investigation of the Fracture Resistance of Hot-Mix Asphalt Concrete Using a Disk-Shaped Compact Tension Test

Abstract

In recent years the transportation materials research community has focused a great deal of attention on the development of testing and analysis methods to shed light on fracture development in asphalt pavements. Recently it has been shown that crack initiation and propagation in asphalt materials can be realistically modeled with cutting-edge computational fracture mechanics tools. However, much more progress is needed toward the development of practical laboratory fracture tests to support these new modeling approaches. The goal of this paper is twofold: ( a) to present a disk-shaped compact tension [DC(T)] test, which appears to be a practical method for determining low-temperature fracture properties of cylindrically shaped asphalt concrete test specimens, and ( b) to illustrate how the DC(T) test can be used to obtain fracture properties of asphalt concrete specimens obtained from field cores following dynamic modulus and creep compliance tests performed on the same specimens. Testing four mixtures with varied composition demonstrated that the DC(T) test could detect the transition from quasi-brittle to brittle fracture by testing at several low temperatures selected to span across the glass transition temperatures of the asphalt binder used. The tendency toward brittle fracture with increasing loading rate was also detected. Finally, the DC(T) test was used in a forensic study to investigate premature reflective cracking of an isolated portion of pavement in Rochester, New York. One benefit of the DC(T) test demonstrated during testing of field samples was the ability to obtain mixture fracture properties as part of an efficient suite of tests performed on cylindrical specimens.

Effect of temperature and air void on mixed mode fracture toughness of modified asphalt mixtures

“…The single edge notched bend beam (SENB) subjected to three or four-point bend loading [1,12,15,42,43], the modified indirect tension (IDT) specimen [11], the disc shape compact tension (DCT) specimen [13,14,18,44], the center cracked diametral compression disc (Brazilian disc) specimen [45] and the semi-circular bend (SCB) specimen subjected to three-point bend loading [3,6,10,16,19,23,46-54] are some of the previously used test configurations for investigating the crack growth behavior of asphalt mixtures. It should be noted that many of the mentioned specimen, cannot provide pure or dominantly mode II loading cases.…”

“…Since 1970, a large number of research works have been performed to study the fracture resistance of different asphalt mixtures using the concept of fracture energy or the stress intensity factor by employing numerical analyses, simulation techniques and experimental methods [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. The influence of asphalt characteristic specifications including the binder type, aggregate type, size of aggregates, air void contents, temperature, and loading condition have been investigated in the past for different asphalt mixtures.…”

Evaluation of low temperature viscoelastic properties and fracture behavior of bio-asphalt mixtures

“…A higher m-value is generally associated with greater stress relaxation ability. Wagoner et al (2005) developed the DC(T) fracture test for asphalt materials undergoing fracture in Mode I which is documented in detail by ASTM D-7313. The test is controlled using a crack-mouth opening displacement (CMOD) gauge which opens at a rate of 1 mm/min.…”

Cohesive zone model to predict fracture in bituminous materials and asphaltic pavements: state-of-the-art review

“…Although the compact tension test can be performed with both rectangular and disc-shaped compact specimens, the DC(T) specimen has typically been used in the characterization of asphalt concrete fracture properties because the specimen can be easily prepared by compacting asphalt mixtures with a Superpave Gyratory Compactor. Significant work has been conducted by researchers (Wagoner et al 2005b(Wagoner et al , 2005c on the development of the DC(T) fracture testing protocol. They modified the original ASTM DC(T) geometry, which is usually for metallic materials, by moving the location of the loading holes to reduce failure at the loading holes.…”