Development of a national database of asphalt material performance properties in support of perpetual pavement design implementation in Australia

Abstract

There were concerns in the Australian industry that the current pavement design procedure was producing excessively conservative asphalt thicknesses. One of the barriers to producing a new design method is that there is limited data on the material characteristics of asphalt mixes. The Australian Asphalt Pavement Association (AAPA) initiated the Asphalt Pavement Solution for Life (APS-fL) project in 2010 to address this gap. This paper presents the outcomes of the first phase of the project in which a database of mechanical properties for 28 typical dense-graded Australian asphalt mixes was established, along with rheological properties of their binder constituents. Dynamic modulus tests were carried out on the asphalt mixes at various temperatures, loading frequencies, and confinement pressures. Virgin, Rolling Thin Film Oven aged (RTFO-aged), mastic and recovered binders were also tested for their rheological properties in the Dynamic Shear Rheometer. In this paper, the mechanical behaviour database on asphalt mixes has been presented in the form of sets of master curves and shift factors’ fitting parameters at all levels of confinement pressure. The binder rheological properties are expressed in terms of viscosity A-VTS charts as well as complex shear modulus and phase angle master curves and fitting parameters. The established database can be used in mix-specific pavement design approaches. It also facilitates implementation of the perpetual pavement design concept in Australia.