Fatigue Characteristics of Asphalt Concrete from Asphalt Slab Tests
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 16, Issue 4
Abstract
It is widely known that pavement fatigue life is often greater than that predicted based on laboratory bending beam or indirect tensile fatigue tests. Among many factors contributing to this difference, the effect of sample dimensions on fatigue life can be significant due to the multiphase nature of asphalt concrete. In this research, fatigue tests were conducted on asphalt slabs, which realistically simulate the fatigue cracks in pavements, to investigate crack initiation and propagation. The fatigue crack at the underside of asphalt slabs was identified as a semielliptical surface crack, which is the same type of fatigue crack found in pavements. A three-dimensional finite-element analysis was conducted to evaluate the stress intensity factor. Paris’s law was used to characterize the crack propagation rate. The fatigue crack initiation life and propagation life determined from this research were compared with those calculated using the Strategic Highway Research Program existing parameters and equation. It was found that the two results are significantly different. The factors that may contribute to this difference were discussed.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 16 • Issue 4 • August 2004
Pages: 306 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 3, 2001
Accepted: Jul 31, 2003
Published online: Jul 15, 2004
Published in print: Aug 2004
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