Abstract
A complex laboratory study in characterization of permanent deformation resistance of hot-mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures is presented. Six plant-produced HMA mixtures were selected for this study. The main objective was to characterize the permanent deformation characteristics of HMA mixtures based on four laboratory tests, namely, the dynamic modulus |E*|, flow number, frequency sweep at constant height (FSCH), and Hamburg-type loaded wheel-tracking tests. The secondary objective was to evaluate the sensitivity of the dynamic modulus |E*|-test results in pavement rutting performance prediction with the 2002 mechanistic–empirical (M–E) pavement design software. Test results indicate that the |E*|-test was sensitive to the nominal maximum aggregate size in an HMA mixture. Larger aggregates combined with aged materials tend to have high |E*|-values at high temperatures. However, both the |E*|-and FSCH tests could not correctly rank the permanent deformation characteristics for the six HMA mixtures considered in this study. However, test results from the flow number and Hamburg tests correlated fairly well, and both tests were sensitive to the permanent deformation characteristics for the mixtures evaluated. The mixture ranking order obtained from the flow number tests was consistent with the use of those mixtures in the field. The predicted rut depths from the 2002 M-E pavement design software basically followed the same trend found in the |E*|-test results at high temperatures.
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