Laboratory Performance Evaluation of Hot-Mix Asphalt Mixtures with Different Design Parameters

Abstract

Aggregate gradation and asphalt type are traditional variables that affects mix design of Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA). Recently, the number of design gyrations (Ndes) has been increasingly accepted as another variable parameter during the design process. Due to the growing shortage of high-quality raw materials, it is necessary to make full use of the combined roles between these design parameters, instead of solely relying on their individual effect, to improve the HMA properties. Therefore, this study comprehensively explored the effect of aggregate gradation, Ndes, and asphalt type on the performance of HMAs. Seven different combinations of aggregate gradation, Ndes, and asphalt type were evaluated. The volumetric indicators, uniaxial penetration shear test (UPST), unconfined compression test (UCT), low-temperature bending test (LBT), four-point bending test (FPBT), and dynamic modulus test (DMT) were used to assess the performance of HMAs designed by various parameter combinations. It was found that the contribution of adopting harder asphalt binder was able to make up for the high-temperature resistance loss caused by lower Ndes or coarser gradation. The dynamic modulus exhibited the similar phenomenon. By contrast, the harder asphalt binder led to the worse tenacity of HMAs at low temperature; however, the tenacity can be restored through using lower Ndes or coarser gradation by increasing asphalt content. In addition, the fatigue life of HMAs went up significantly by about 36 ~ 41%, when both Ndes and asphalt penetration grade decreased to one lower level.

Keywords

• asphalt mixture
• performance
• aggregate gradation
• design gyration
• low/high-temperature properties