Hot-Mix Asphalt Performance Related Specification Based on Viscoelastoplastic Continuum Damage (VEPCD) Models

This report develops and verifies material and structural models for asphalt mixture performance-related specifications (AM-PRS). The models the research team developed and verified in this study include the simplified viscoelastic continuum damage (S-VECD) model for fatigue cracking, the shift model as a permanent deformation model, the healing model based on the viscoelastic continuum damage (VECD) theory, and a structural model called the FlexPAVE^TM program.^(94,119) The FlexPAVE program simulates pavement response and performance under moving loads and climatic changes in the field. In this study, the research team tested and modeled a total of 60 asphalt mixtures from 47 different pavement structures to calibrate and validate the performance models and software. The FlexMAT program processed the laboratory data to determine material properties of these mixes, which the research team then input to the FlexPAVE program with section-specific structure, traffic, and climatic conditions to predict the performance of the 47 asphalt pavements studied. The research team found that the FlexPAVE program can predict field performance with reasonable accuracy. Although not included in the FlexMAT program, efforts from this study resulted in the development of a healing model based on the VECD theory and the impact resonance test method that provides an efficient and inexpensive means of determining the dynamic modulus of asphalt concrete.