Experimental study on crack resistance of typical steel-bridge-deck paving materials

Abstract

In this study, the crack resistance performance of three steel-bridge-deck paving materials (epoxy asphalt mixture EA-10, Gussasphalt mixture GA-10, and high-elastic SMA-10 asphalt mixture) are tested using an improved overlay test (OT test). First, it is necessary to conduct a theoretical analysis. The test is conducted in two phases: non-destructive and destructive stages. In the non-destructive stage, the relationship between loading the cycle-strain integral area and the strain-integral, area-different crack lengths are established. In the OT test, the loading pattern is performed in a half-sine wave pattern. In the destructive stage, the relationship between the peak load and the strain integral area is established. Moreover, a virtual displacement work model is developed. Second, through non-destructive and destructive tests, a continuous model of the paving material’s non-destructive test parameters E1 and m is developed. In addition, based on the results of the theoretical analysis, the expressions of the anti-cracking performance parameters A and n of different paving materials at different temperatures are presented. Depending on the relationship between the loading cycle and the crack length, the crack performance parameters A and n of different paving materials at different temperatures are calculated. Based on the test results, it is evident that at the same temperature, the crack resistance parameters n of GA-10 and EA-10 are comparable and significantly smaller than that of SMA-10, indicating that GA-10 and EA-10 have better crack resistance than SMA-10. It is also evident that a change in temperature results in a slight variation in A and n for GA-10 and EA-10, indicating a minute temperature sensitivity of the crack resistance of GA-10 and EA-10; thus, GA-10 and EA-10 are more suitable for large temperature variation applications.