Comparative analysis of time sweep testing evaluation methods for the fatigue characterisation of aged bitumen

Hu, Yongping; Sreeram, Anand; Airey, Gordon; Li, Bo; Si, Wei; Wang, Haopeng

Abstract

Ageing of bitumen changes its stiffness related properties and is thought to have a considerable impact on its fatigue performance. Time sweep tests are a commonly used methodology to evaluate the fatigue performance of bitumen over the course of its lifetime. This study comparatively evaluated the fatigue performance of six aged bitumen samples using various commonly employed time sweep testing-based approaches, including conventional methods (50% reduction in complex modulus and peak in phase angle) and newer methods (peak in S × N and two dissipated-energy-based approaches). The statistical analysis of the results illustrated that although the trends of fatigue life versus ageing levels were similar, different methods had significantly varying results. It was generally seen that ageing increased stiffness and the calculated fatigue life of bituminous binders improved when commonly applied strain levels of 5% and 7.5% were used. This result demonstrates the need to develop more robust methods to fully capture the true fatigue related deterioration of aged binders in the future. Among all the methods, the peak in S × N approach was found to be the most efficient based on the criteria used in the study and was the recommended approach considering current limitations. It showed no apparent defects and had the best correlations with other methods when the applied strains were 5% and 7.5%.

Citation

Hu, Y., Sreeram, A., Airey, G., Li, B., Si, W., & Wang, H. (2024). Comparative analysis of time sweep testing evaluation methods for the fatigue characterisation of aged bitumen. Construction and Building Materials, 432, Article 136698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.136698

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 16, 2024
• Online Publication Date: May 18, 2024
• Publication Date: Jun 21, 2024
• Deposit Date: May 20, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: May 20, 2024
• Journal: Construction and Building Materials
• Print ISSN: 0950-0618
• Electronic ISSN: 1879-0526
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 432
• Article Number: 136698
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.136698
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/35144849
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950061824018397?via%3Dihub