Application of a Temperature Dependent Viscoplastic Hierarchical Single Surface Model for Asphalt Mixtures

Abstract

Asphalt mixtures exhibit both temperature and rate dependencies. Most current constitutive models used in design and prediction of the performance of asphalt pavements do not incorporate both characteristics into their equations. Therefore, they do not effectively reflect the actual pavement responses under traffic loads and environmental conditions. This paper presents a temperature dependent viscoplastic model that incorporated temperature and loading rate into the Hierarchical Single Surface plasticity based model. The model presented in this paper was able to reflect the nonlinear plasticity, as well as the temperature and loading rate dependencies of the asphalt mixtures. Triaxial compression, triaxial extension, and axial creep tests at three temperatures (28, 40 and 60°C) were performed to calibrate the material properties. A comparison of numerical analysis obtained from the proposed model and experimental results was conducted based on the algorithm proposed by the writers. A reasonable agreement was observed from the back calculation and the experimental results. Further studies of the applicability of this model in predicting pavement performance were recommended.