Phenomenological Model for Monotonic and Cyclic Behavior of Pure Bitumen

Abstract

An extensive experimental study of the monotonic, recovery, and cyclic behavior of two bitumens commonly used for pavement construction in the U.K. was performed over a wide range of strain rates, stresses, and temperatures. The steady-state monotonic and cyclic behavior of the materials followed the modified Cross model with the bitumen exhibiting linear and nonlinear viscous behavior at low and high stresses, respectively. Continuous and pulse-loading cyclic tests revealed that the behavior of the bitumen is mean-stress governed in the continuous cyclic tests while strain recovery is important in the pulse-loading tests. A phenomenological model calibrated by a minimum of four tensile experiments is proposed and shown to capture the bitumen response accurately over all the loading histories (monotonic, continuous cyclic, and pulse loading) and temperatures investigated.