Rutting Performance of Airport Hot-Mix Asphalt Characterized by Laboratory Performance Testing, Full-Scale Accelerated Pavement Testing, and Finite Element Modeling
Abstract
Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) laboratory mixture design is intended to provide a durable,
rut-resistant mixture for a given traffic type. Current mixture design procedures using the
Superpave Gyratory Compactor (SGC) rely on volumetric properties of the compacted
mixture to assure reliable performance; however, a definitive performance test does not
exist. This study provides guidance for selecting a laboratory performance test for airport
HMA mixture designs based on; (a) data analyses of results from four potential
laboratory tests, (b) comparisons of laboratory tests results to full-scale accelerated
pavement test results, and (c) analyses of results from finite element simulations.
The laboratory study evaluated of the repeated load test, the static creep test, the
dynamic modulus test, and the Asphalt Pavement Analyzer (APA) test as potential
performance tests to accompany airport HMA mixture design with a goal of providing
acceptable threshold test results that predict rutting performance under aircraft traffic.
Over 340 specimens were tested from 34 asphalt mixtures. Specific criteria for each test
method were developed.
Next, the test methods and criteria were applied to an HMA mixture design selected
for accelerated pavement testing. The full-scale tests applied wheel loads that simulated
both military fighter aircraft and heavy cargo aircraft traffic to a pavement constructed to
meet typical airport design standards. In the first test, simulating fighter jet aircraft, the
tire inflation pressure was 2241 kPa, and the pavement temperature was maintained at
43°C. The second test, simulating cargo aircraft, used a tire inflation pressure of 980 kPa
and a pavement temperature of 25°C. As expected, rutting was much more severe in the
first test.
The full-scale tests were then simulated computationally using finite element
modeling. The asphalt layer was modeled using the nonlinear viscoelastic, viscoplastic
components of the Pavement Analysis Using Nonlinear Damage Approach (PANDA)
model. The pavement sections and wheel loads from the field-tests were recreated using
two-dimensional simulations within ABAQUS. The simulations resulted in very high
rates of viscoplastic strain for the conditions of the first test, but almost no permanent
deformation in the second test. Finally, recommendations for implementing APA criteria
into airfield HMA mixture design are presented.
Subject
asphalt performance testsairport pavement
finite element modeling
accelerated pavement testing
Citation
Rushing, John Ford (2014). Rutting Performance of Airport Hot-Mix Asphalt Characterized by Laboratory Performance Testing, Full-Scale Accelerated Pavement Testing, and Finite Element Modeling. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /152715.