Environmental Influence on the Resistance to Flexural Stresses of Asphalt Concrete

Abstract

Part of the pavement distresses is related to the environmental impact. The influence of testing environment and constant strain level on the resistance of asphalt concrete to the flexure stresses was investigated in the present work. Asphalt concrete slab samples were prepared at optimum binder content using roller compaction in the laboratory. Beam specimens were obtained from the slab samples and subjected to the dynamic flexural stresses using the four points bending beam test, and three constant strain levels of (750, 400, and 250) microstrain. Specimens were tested under different environments of (5, 20, and 30) ℃. The resistance of the asphalt concrete specimens to the repeated flexural stresses was detected and compared. It was observed that the resistance to the dynamic flexural stresses declines as the testing temperature rises regardless of the constant strain levels adopted. It was concluded that higher constant strain level exhibits higher resistance to flexural strain and early failure as compared with lower strain level regardless of the testing environment. The environmental impact was evaluated and modeled. It is recommended that controlling the temperature sensitivity of asphalt concrete is vital for obtaining a sustainable asphalt concrete mixture.