Characterizing rheological behavior of asphalt binder over a complete range of pavement service loading frequency and temperature

• Published in: Construction & building materials 2016-10, Vol.123, p.661-672
• Main Authors: Sun, Yiren, Huang, Baoshan, Chen, Jingyun, Jia, Xiaoyang, Ding, Yongjie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analysis; Asphalt; BBR; Complex modulus; DSR; Linear viscoelastic; Master curve; Mechanical properties; Pavements; Prony series
• ISSN: 0950-0618; 1879-0526
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.07.047

•The BBR data was converted into the complex shear moduli in frequency domain.•The 2S2P1D model was adopted for simulating the combined BBR and DSR data.•An analytical continuous retardation spectrum was derived from the 2S2P1D model.•Combined data time-domain master curves were developed using continuous spectra. The present study presented a new procedure for characterizing the rheological properties of asphalt binders over the complete range of pavement service frequency and temperature. The proposed procedure involved two primary steps. In the first step, a modified windowing method (MWM) with a pre-smoothing operation and a modified windowing inter-conversion method (MWIM) with an accurate distribution of the time constants were developed to convert the flexural creep compliance observations from the bending beam rheometer (BBR) test into the corresponding complex shear moduli, so that these measurements could be well combined with the DSR test results. In the second step, the 2S2P1D model was adopted to construct the full master curves of the asphalt binders in frequency domain. To extend the application of the procedure for simulating the master curves in time domain, an existing continuous relaxation spectrum model and a derived continuous retardation spectrum model for the 2S2P1D model were employed. The results showed that the combination of the BBR and DSR data substantially expanded the scale of the complex shear modulus. The corresponding linear viscoelastic (LVE) master curves could be incorporated into the existing asphalt concrete complex modulus predictive equations for better pavement response analysis and performance assessment.