Field Validation of Thermal Stress Restrained Specimen Test: Six Case Histories

Abstract

Construction histories, cracking observations, and temperature data were collected for five test roads in Alaska, Pennsylvania, and Finland. A full-scale and fully controlled low-temperature cracking test program was conducted at the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. Specimens were fabricated in the laboratory with original asphalt cements and aggregates from the test roads. The thermal stress restrained specimen test (TSRST) results obtained for these samples were correlated with the field observations. On the basis of a statistical analysis of the data, the TSRST fracture temperature is associated with the field cracking temperature and crack frequency for the test roads where mixture properties dominated low-temperature cracking. It was concluded that the TSRST can be used to simulate low-temperature cracking of asphalt concrete mixtures.