M&S highlight: Di Benedetto et al. (2004), Fatigue of bituminous mixtures

Abstract

Bituminous mixtures or asphalt mixtures are a composite material of bituminous binder, mineral aggregates and air voids. Bituminous mixtures are the most common construction material for road pavements, i.e. asphalt pavements. By far more than 90% of paved roads are made from bituminous mixtures, which are compacted to layers and have served as the load carrying structure for transport infrastructure for more than 100 years. Due to the cyclic nature of wheel loading by vehicles traveling on these pavements, their design is based on fatigue resistance of the structure. Since bitumen is a complex organic material resulting from crude oil refining, its mechanical properties are different from many other construction materials. The reaction to loading is highly temperature- and loading-time-dependent viscoelastic. It exhibits liquid-like, viscous features at high temperature and low frequency of cyclic loading and solid-like, elastic features at low temperatures and high frequencies of loading. Thus, mechanical analysis of such materials is a complex task that needs to take these material properties into account.