Simplified Numerical Modeling for Asphalt Mixes

Abstract

Even though, asphalt mixes are classified as a visco-plastic and anisotropic material for simplicity and practicality those properties are commonly neglected and most design methods were based on the assumption that asphalt mixes behave as an elastic and isotropic material. Many sophisticated numerical models were developed to address these issues; unfortunately these models have many parameters, which make them difficult to apply. This study investigated the utilization of a simple visco-elasto-plastic model that had been used successfully in predicting sea ice distresses under different wind loads. The model parameters were fitted using the static creep/flow time test results by simple regression analysis. Then the Sea Ice model was compared to results from the Burger model, which is a widely used model for predicting deformation in asphalt pavements. It was observed that Sea Ice model had better predictions. Further, to validate the utilization of the model, an asphalt mix was tested using cyclic loading setup. Results illustrated that Sea Ice model could be used effectively in predicting deformation in asphalt mixes under static and cyclic loading conditions. The model parameters are easily determined and can be adopted in any numerical method and used to predict deformation in asphalt mixes on a larger scale.