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- Evaluation of fatigue performance at different temperaturesPublication . Minhoto, Manuel; Pais, Jorge; Pereira, PauloThe fatigue performance of asphalt mixtures is used to predict pavement life to control the cracking in the asphalt layers. The design of an asphalt pavement is usually made for a specific temperature, what is intended to represent the pavement behaviour throughout a whole year. For damage analysis during a year, along which the pavement temperature constantly varies, it is necessary to calculate the fatigue performance of pavements at a wide range of temperatures. Thus, this paper presents the evaluation of the fatigue response of two asphalt mixtures, a conventional and an asphalt rubber mixture. Frequency sweep tests were also performed to evaluate the stiffness modulus. The fatigue test results showed that the fatigue life decreases when the test temperature decreases up to a certain value. After that value, the fatigue life increases when the test temperature decreases. To explain this phenomenon, this paper presents the preliminary tests carried out to measure the temperature inside the testing specimens to verify possible discrepancies between the climatic chamber temperature and the specimen temperature.
- Analysis of the variation in the fatigue life through four-point bending testsPublication . Pais, Jorge; Pereira, Paulo; Minhoto, Manuel; Fontes, Liseane; Kumar, D.S.N.V.A.; Silva, B.T.A.The fatigue resistance of asphalt mixtures is calculated through laboratory tests which require some time depending on the strain level applied to the specimen. For very low strain levels, identical to the one installed in the pavement of this study, one test may last more than one week depending on the testing frequency. The time needed for the development of the fatigue law may last longer. The number of specimens used to calculate the fatigue resistance of an asphalt mixture plays an important role in the precision of pavement design. Thus, this paper presents a study to evaluate the number of tests to assess the fatigue resistance of asphalt mixtures through the four-point bending technique. The results obtained from the analysis of three different asphalt mixtures tested by applying 3 strain levels and 6 specimens for each strain level were used to evaluate the fatigue resistance dispersion to identify the number of tests to define a fatigue law.
- The prediction of fatigue life using the k1-k2 relationshipPublication . Pais, Jorge; Pereira, Paulo; Minhoto, Manuel; Fontes, Liseane; Kumar, D.S.N.V.A.; Silva, B.T.A.Fatigue resistance is used in the analysis and design of pavements to predict their life cycle. It is evaluated through time consuming laboratory tests, mainly when performed at very low strain levels. At low strain levels the testing time can last more than one day. Due to the heterogeneity of the material, a large number of samples are tested during days or weeks. The results of fatigue tests are expressed in terms of the number of cycles for the tensile strain level applied. Two constants (k1 and k2) obtained from a statistical analysis take part in this relationship. To know these two constants, at least two fatigue tests are needed, performed at different strain levels. k1 and k2 can be correlated and, in this case, the relationship between the fatigue life and the strain level has only one constant, which can be evaluated using the results obtained by a fatigue test. This paper presents the evaluation of the k1 and k2 relationship for Portuguese mixtures based on the results of 32 different asphalt mixtures composed by four different types of aggregate gradations.
- Application of plateau value to predict fatigue lifePublication . Pais, Jorge; Pereira, Paulo; Minhoto, Manuel; Fontes, Liseane; Kumar, D.S.N.V.A.; Silva, B.T.A.Fatigue resistance of asphalt mixtures represents an important parameter for pavement design. This fatigue resistance is calculated through laboratory tests which require some time depending on the strain level applied to the specimen. For very low strain levels, identical to the one installed in the pavement, one test may last more than one week depending on the testing frequency. The time needed for the development of the fatigue law may last longer. Recent developments introduced an energy approach, based on the ratio of dissipated energy change, which leads to a plateau value that requires short testing to predict the specimen failure. This paper presents the implementation of this approach to evaluate the fatigue resistance of Portuguese asphalt mixtures. Three asphalt mixtures were studied. The first mixture was tested using two strain levels and three specimens for strain level. The second mixture was tested using three strain levels and three specimens per strain level, whereas the last mixture was tested with 18 specimens, 6 per strain level. The approach seems to have potential to be used for fast evaluation of the fatigue response of asphalt mixtures.