Fatigue characterization of conventional and high rutting resistance asphalt mixtures using the cyclic indirect tensile test

Abstract

In this paper, the fatigue behaviour of several asphalt mixtures that are widely used in Vietnam such as the dense graded asphalt concrete (AC) produced with 60/70 pen bitumen and high rutting resistance asphalt mixtures (HRRA) are investigated using the cyclic indirect tensile (IDT) testing device equipped at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE). Several level of stress magnitudes were applied to determine the characteristic fatigue line (CFL) of mixtures. The results show that the widely used power law of CFL is applicable for all investigated mixtures. Although the stiffness of the HRRA is twice that of conventional AC, its resistance to fatigue is much higher. The effect of strain magnitude on the stiffness of mixtures or the nonlinearity effect was also recognized. It was observed that the impact of binder type on the nonlinearity effect is insignificant compared to that due to the volumetric design of mixture.