Comparison of Bitumen Fatigue Testing Procedures Measured in Shear and Correlations with Four-Point Bending Mixture Fatigue

Characterizing the contribution of bitumen fatigue resistance to asphalt pavement performance remains a hurdle to implementing a unified bitumen fatigue criterion in specifications. This study is intended to explore preliminary validation of the most promising bitumen fatigue testing procedures using four-point flexural bending of asphalt mixtures. One mixture gradation and compaction level was used to isolate the relative fatigue performance of three polymer-modified bitumens. It is anticipated that testing of bitumen using the Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) can be used as a fatigue performance indicator, thereby reducing the need for costly mixture fatigue testing. Three bitumen test procedures are highlighted in this study; one mimics the cyclic loading of conventional fatigue, the second is a monotonic test procedure that measures the ability of the material to withstand loading energy prior to damage, and the third is a sweep test in which the strain is increased continuously with number of cycles. The comparison of the different bitumen testing procedures to flexural fatigue is presented herein. The results show that there are no simple correlations, and depending on the loading conditions selected, the ranking of binders could vary by test method.

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