Use of Analysis Approaches and Failure Criteria Applied to Fatigue Tests and their Influence on Predicting the Life Cycle of the Asphalt Wearing Course in the Pavement Structure

Abstract

The development of asphalt mixture fatigue models used in pavement design is part of the advanced characterization procedures for this material. However, several different analysis approaches and fatigue failure criteria may be used. These approaches and criteria can deliver different fatigue models and, consequently, asphalt layers with different thicknesses in the pavement structure. The present study reports the results concerning the influence of two analysis approaches (phenomenological and cumulative dissipated energy) and two fatigue failure criteria (conventional and Pronk & Hopman) on the development of asphalt mixture fatigue models and their effect on predicting the life cycle of the wearing course in the pavement structure. The results show that the phenomenological approach is more conservative than the cumulative dissipated energy approach, as well as the Pronk & Hopman criterion in relation to the conventional criterion, that is, the type of approach and the adopted failure criterion will have a direct impact on the final thickness of the designed layer.