Laboratory Simulation of Extreme Cooling Effects on the Propagation of Reflection Cracks Using Customized Texas Overlay Tester

摘要

The current Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular does not address reflective cracking for asphalt overlaid concrete pavements. To implement this failure mode in flexible over rigid design procedure, a series of full-scale test pavements were constructed, instrumented, and tested at the FAA National Airport Pavement Test Facility. In this paper, laboratory experiments on field extracted hot mix asphalt (HMA) are conducted to study the characteristics of the mixtures for reflective cracking. Preliminary testing on the same mixtures was studied using the Texas Overlay Tester (OT), Indirect Tensile Strength, and Dynamic Modulus tests. The OT was customized to study the cooling effects on the initiation and propagation of reflection cracks on the above mentioned HMA cores. Findings from this research effort will be used to develop a rational testing procedure to simulate extreme cooling cycles through full-scale testing.