Improving asphalt pavement intelligent compaction based on differentiated compaction curves

Abstract

Although the Intelligent Compaction (IC) technology has been widely used on the asphalt pavement compaction nowadays, the potential of compaction curve and the target IC measurement value (ICMV) has still not been well clarified, and the actual practices using IC rollers mainly focus on the roller passes and asphalt temperature. The present study investigated the interrelations among asphalt temperature, compactibility, dynamic modulus, and ICMV through resurfacing projects in Tennessee. It was found that the original IC compaction curve could only offer limited information, and the target ICMV value was strongly affected by the asphalt temperature. A further investigation using asphalt vibratory compactor, gyratory compactor, and Witczak model indicated that the effect of temperature on the asphalt modulus and its compactibility varies. To explore the potential of IC technology, the original IC compaction curves were further divided according to the initial compaction temperature, and the practical “cessation temperature” for the breakdown roller could be identified. Based on the findings, the criteria to improve the IC resurfacing compaction were suggested, and it was well in accordance with the test results of core samples. As a result, the asphalt temperature and roller passes are still suggested for the IC asphalt compaction. However, it is based on a better understanding of IC by the differentiated compaction curves.