Development and numerical implementation of nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic model for asphalt materials

Abstract

Hot mix asphalt (HMA) is a composite material which consists of aggregates, air voids and asphalt materials. The HMA response is typically described to be viscoelastic-viscoplastic, and its response is a function of temperature, stress/strain rate, and stress/strain level. Many researches have shown that the viscoelastic response of asphalt mixtures can be nonlinear once the stress/strain value exceeds a certain threshold level. This study presents a nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic model for describing the behavior of asphalt materials under various conditions. A new method is developed in this study for separating the viscoelastic response from the viscoplastic response. The first part of this study focuses on the implementation of Schapery nonlinear viscoelastic model in finite element (FE) using a user-defined material subroutine (UMAT) within the ABAQUS commercial software. The FE implementation employs the recursive-iterative integration algorithm, which can improve the convergence and save the calculating time. The verification of the nonlinear viscoelastic model is achieved by analyzing (1) the response of asphalt mixtures tested in the Simple Shear Test (SST) at several temperatures and stress levels, (2) the response of unaged and aged asphalt binders tested in the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR), and (3) the response of asphalt binders in the multiple stress creep recovery test (MSCR). In the second part of this study, the nonlinear viscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive relationship is implemented using UMAT. The viscoplastic component of the model employs Perzyna’s theory with Extended Drucker-Prager yield surface which is modified to account for the difference in material response under compression and extension stress states. The study includes parametric analysis to illustrate the effect of nonlinear viscoelastic parameters and viscoplastic parameters on the asphalt mix response. The capability of the model in describing the fatigue and permanent deformation distresses of asphalt pavements is illustrated using finite element simulations. The constitutive model developed in this study can describe the behavior of asphalt materials (asphalt binder, asphalt mastic and mixtures) under various testing conditions. This study also achieved the FE implementation of a nonlinear viscoelasticviscoplastic constitutive model that can simulate the fatigue and permanent deformation distresses of asphalt pavement structures.