The distributed optical fiber sensing technology was used to investigate the fracture behavior of the Epoxy Asphalt Mixture. The spatial distribution and variation of the strain development with crack propagation were acquired using the brillouin optical time-domain reflectometer through the loading experiments of the composite beam structure. In addition, a finite element model of the composite beam structure was developed to analyze the mechanical responses of the epoxy asphalt mixture using the extended finite element method. The experimental results show that the development of crack propagation becomes instable with the increase of the load, and larger loads will generate deeper cracks. Moreover, the numerical results show that the mechanical response of the crack tip changes with the crack propagation, and the worst areas that subjected to crack damage are located on both sides of the composite beam structure.
The high temperature anti-rutting performance,water stability and low temperature bending property of epoxy asphalt mixture with 0%,15%,25%,40%,and 70% granulated and circular lightweight aggregates by weight are tested,respectively.The dynamic responses under the vehicle load and in the opening process are analyzed to obtain the mechanical responses of pavements by using the finite element method.The complicated structure including a steel deck and a waterproof adhesive layer is made to verify the bond strength of the 2451-type epoxy asphalt binder.Research results show that the epoxy asphalt mixtures with lightweight aggregate replacement percentages from 0% to 70% all satisfy the requirements for steel bridge pavements.The epoxy asphalt mixture with a 70% circular lightweight aggregate replacement percentage is recommended because of its smaller density when compared with other epoxy asphalt mixtures.The shear stress increases with the increase in the opening angle and achieves its maximum at the maximum opening angle of 85°.Test results show that the Tianjin Bascule Bridge can be used for first opening after a 3 d pavement conditioning.
The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the effects of asphalt concrete types on the microstructural characteristics at high-temperature. Suspend-dense structure and Skeleton-dense structure were selected to investigate the deformation of pavement at meso-scale. The internal microstructures of typical asphalt concretes, AC, SUP and SMA, were scanned by X-ray CT device, and microstructural changes before and after high-temperature damage were researched by digital image processing. Adaptive threshold segmentation algorithm（ATSA） based on image radius was developed and utilized to obtain the binary images of aggregates, air-voids and asphalt mastic. Then the shape and distribution of air-voids and aggregates were analyzed. The results show that the ATSA can distinguish the target and background effectively. Gradation and coarse aggregate size of asphalt mixtures have an obvious influence on the distribution of air-voids. The movements of aggregate particles are complex and aggregates with elliptic sharp show great rotation. The effect of gradation on microstructure during high-temperature damage promotes the research about the failure mechanism of asphalt concrete pavement.
To determine the fracture characteristics of asphalt mixture a novel fracture test with modified loading modes loading fixtures and the control system of the conventional overlay tester is implemented by the asphalt material performance tester AMPT .In order to evaluate the validity of the proposed fracture test four different loading rates including 1 2 3 and 4 mm/min are examined in the AMPT. The results indicate that the fracture behavior is similar to creep at a low loading rate and does not show significant marginal tail extension at a high loading rate.It clearly shows the phase of crack initiation crack propagation and fracture at a loading rate of 3 mm/min. Besides eight fracture parameters such as fracture energy tensile strength and tensile modulus are applied to evaluate the fracture characteristics of asphalt mixture.Development of the overlay tester for the fracture test of asphalt mixture can be considered as a new fracture test of asphalt mixture.
