Download or read book Fracture Tests for Bituminous-aggregate Mixtures: Laboratory and Field Investigations written by Michael Parker Wagoner and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A major cause of premature pavement deterioration has been the cracking of the asphalt materials. This study investigates the ability to apply fracture mechanics principles to study asphalt concrete cracking through experimental techniques. Single-edge notched beam (SE(B)) and disk-shaped compact tension (DC(T)) test geometries were developed to estimate the fracture energy of asphalt concrete. Fracture energy can be measured from these laboratory tests with adequate accuracy, which allows for the application of numerical models to accurately predict asphalt concrete fracture behavior. The fracture behavior of asphalt concrete at low temperatures can be described as quasi-brittle and the fracture properties are specimen size dependent within the size range tested for this study (25 mm up to 450 mm). The DC(T) test was applied to forensic studies of pavement structures and fracture energy estimated from the tests provided an alternative parameter for describing the cracking potential of the asphalt concrete mixtures.