Jordan Journal of Civil Engineering

A Comparative Study on Fatigue and Cracking Performance for different HMA Mixtures

Authors:

Van Phuc Le; Van Hung Nguyen;

Abstract:

The primary goal of this study was to evaluate the fatigue and cracking resistance of Gussaphalt (GA), stone mastic asphalt (SMA), and hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures. The fatigue and fracture behaviors of these mixtures were examined using the Superpave indirect tension (IDT) strength test and the four-point bending beam fatigue test. Digital cameras were installed to monitor crack development on both faces of the specimens during the IDT strength tests. The length and width of the cracks were measured using the captured digital images. The test findings show that GA has much greater IDT strength, toughness, and fatigue life than HMA and SMA mixtures. The SMA exhibited the weakest resistance to fracture initiation, with an IDT toughness of only 2.0 kPa, which is 48% lower than that of the HMA and 60% lower than that of the GA. The GA exhibits the highest average IDT strength, exceeding that of HMA by 15% and SMA by 47%, while HMA remains 38% higher than SMA. The crack length and crack width of GA mixtures are significantly lower than those of SMA and HMA mixtures. This indicates that GA has an advantage in delaying crack initiation and propagation under indirect tensile loading. For fatigue life, at 1,000 me and 50% stiffness, the GA lasts over 60  times longer than the HMA and nearly 120 times longer than the SMA before cracking. The study’s findings indicate that asphalt mixtures with dense aggregate gradation exhibit superior fatigue performance compared to those with gap-graded aggregates.

Keywords:

Fatigue cracking resistance, HMA, SMA, Gussaphalt, crack length, width crack