Research on Feasibility of Deck SMA Mixes Rolled with Tires Rollers

Abstract

Stone mastic asphalt (SMA) mixture is more and more used as bridge deck pavement because of its excellent high temperature stability, low temperature anti-cracking ability, water stability and good surface service. The thickness of single layer is generally 3~4cm in China, which accelerates the temperature loss of SMA deck pavement. It is commonly concerned that vibration rolling compaction may cause damages to the bridge structure and therefore, the steel wheel rollers do not vibrate usually when compacting the deck pavement. In addition, construction specification (JTG F40-2004) prohibits the use of tire roller for SMA asphalt mix. All factors above challenge the compaction quality of the bridge deck SMA pavement. Combined with Shanghai-Hangzhou expressway expansion project, the feasibility of compacting SMA deck mix with tire roller was studied by testing the characteristic of SMA mixture. Then compactions with or without tire roller were carried out on different experimental sections. Indicators such as the appearance status, compaction degree, water permeability coefficient, skid-resistance index and roughness were tested and results were compared. Comparison results showed that tire roller could improve the compaction quality of bridge deck pavement, and there was no adverse impact on the sliding indicator, so tire roller could be used to compact SMA bridge deck pavement.