VALIDATION OF NEW ASPHALT CEMENT SPECIFICATION TEST METHODS USING EASTERN ...

92 Pages·2009·2 MB·English

VALIDATION OF NEW ASPHALT CEMENT SPECIFICATION
TEST METHODS USING EASTERN AND NORTHEASTERN
ONTARIO CONTRACTS AND TRIAL SECTIONS

by

SATHISH KUMAR SUBRAMANI

A thesis submitted to the Department of Chemistry
in conformity with the requirements for
the degree of Master of Science in Engineering

Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
(APRIL, 2009)

Copyright ©SATHISH KUMAR SUBRAMANI, 2009
Abstract
This thesis discusses and documents the validation efforts related to two new test
methods developed for the grading of asphalt cement. Asphalt cements that were
recovered from a large number of regular paving contracts and trial sections in eastern
and northeastern Ontario were tested according to LS-299 and LS-308 test methods. The
LS-308 Extended Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) Method involves testing of asphalt
cement in a regular BBR after specific times of conditioning at –10ºC and –20ºC. The
LS-299 Double-Edge-Notched Tension (DENT) Test involves testing of asphalt cement in
DENT configuration at 15ºC and 50 mm/min.
Both these methods improved the ranking of asphalt more than that of regular
BBR protocol as in AASHTO M320 method. Pavement contracts and trial sections
showing little or no distress were made with asphalt cements having low grade losses in
LS-308 and high strain tolerances as measured in LS-299. Hence, future implementation
of these methods should reduce thermal cracking distress in Ontario roads.
Besides, a number of other properties were investigated. All recovered regular
contract materials were tested at –10ºC, –20ºC, and –30ºC after various periods of
conditioning. Samples were loaded for 240 s, followed by unloading for 720 s in BBR,
allowing the separation of elastic and viscous creep deformations. The regular
specification parameters, stiffness (S) and relaxation ability (m-value) and also other
performance-related properties were determined. It was found that the confounding effect
of simultaneous elastic and viscous deformations and inadequate conditioning prior to
testing in the BBR protocol are the most important reasons for the observed inconsistency
in grading. These findings are in general agreement to those from the earlier LS-308 tests.
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The main reason for the poor performance is asphalt physically age during
extended periods of exposure to low temperatures. Hence, those that are graded according
to the current AASHTO M320 protocol are often under-designed for thermal cracking.
The slow crystallization of waxes and precipitation of asphaltenes from oily phase is the
primary cause for deterioration of properties. Besides, waste engine oils with other
gelling agents like PPA, increase the chemical ageing tendency of asphalts and hence,
thermal cracking distress.

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Acknowledgements
I am thankful to my supervisor, Dr. Simon Hesp, for providing me with the
opportunity to work on this project. His experience in the field and constant
encouragement has been a tremendous help. Without his help this thesis would not have
been possible. A portion of this thesis has been written up by Professor Hesp in the form
of two scientific publications (Hesp et al. 2009, Hesp and Subramani 2009).
I also wish to thank undergraduate students Kevin Houlihan, David Scafe, and
Irsan Kodrat, for their assistance with collecting part of the data in this thesis.
Furthermore, Rasoul Soleimani was always there for help and suggestions in my work.
Staff of the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario Eastern Region Office is specifically
thanked for providing the distress surveys for the Highway 655 trial sections. I am
grateful to my friends and family for their constant encouragement and support.
Finally, financial support for this research was kindly provided by the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Highway
Infrastructure Innovations Funding Program of the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario
(HIIFP MTO), and the Charitable Foundation of Imperial Oil of Canada.

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Table of Contents

Abstract ii
Acknowledgements iv
Table of Contents v
List of Figures vii
List of Tables x
Abbreviations and Acronyms xi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Asphalt – Origin, Composition and Need for Testing 1
1.1.1 Composition of Asphalt 3
1.1.2 Need for Testing 5
1.2 Design of Pavements 5
1.3 Distress in Pavements 7
1.3.1 Rutting 7
1.3.2 Fatigue 9
1.3.3 Low Temperature Cracking 10
1.3.4 Moisture Damage 12
1.4 Asphalt Cement Specification Grading 12

CHAPTER 2 BACKGROUND ON ASPHALT CEMENT PERFORMANCE GRADING 15
2.1 Conventional Testing Methods 15
2.1.1 Needle Penetration Method 16
2.1.2 Ring and Ball Softening Point Method 16
2.1.3 Viscosity Method 18
2.2 Superpave® Test Methods 18
2.2.1 Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) Method 20
2.2.2 Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) Method 20
2.3 Improved Low Temperature Specification Testing 23
2.3.1 Extended BBR Testing According to MTO Method LS-308 24
2.3.2 Ductile Failure Testing According to MTO Method LS-299 25
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CHAPTER 3 MATERIALS AND EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES 27
3.1 Materials and Recovery 27
3.1.1 Eastern and Northeastern Ontario Contracts 27
3.1.2 Highway 655 Trial Sections 30
3.1.3 Recovery of Asphalt Cements 31
3.2 Experimental Procedures 32
3.2.1 Regular BBR Testing According to AASHTO M320 32
3.2.2 Extended BBR Testing According to MTO Method LS-308 34
3.2.3 Ductile Failure Testing According to MTO Method LS-299 35
3.2.4 Elastic Recovery Testing 38

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 40
4.1 Eastern and Northeastern Ontario Contracts 40
4.1.1 Distress Surveying 40
4.1.2 Regular BBR Testing According to AASHTO Method M320 56
4.1.3 Extended BBR Testing According to MTO Method LS-308 58
4.1.4 Ductile Failure Testing According to MTO Method LS-299 60
4.1.5 Elastic Recovery Testing 61
4.2 Highway 655 Trial Sections 65
4.2.1 Distress Surveys 65
4.2.2 Regular BBR Testing According to AASHTO M320 67
4.2.3 Extended BBR Testing According to MTO Method LS-308 68
4.2.4 Ductile Failure Testing According to MTO Method LS-299 70

CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 72

REFERENCES 75

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Typical design of three-layered pavement 6
Figure 2. Measurement of rut depth on a severely damaged stretch of pavement 7
Figure 3. Area of asphalt pavement suffering from severe fatigue cracking distress 8
Figure 4. Typical example of a severe thermal crack in an asphalt pavement 10
Figure 5. Variation of penetration with temperature 15
Figure 6. Variation of viscosity for same viscosity grades at different temperatures 16
Figure 7. Bending beam rheometer test set-up 20
Figure 8. Double-edge-notched tension test set-up 24
Figure 9. Contract locations for eastern and northeastern Ontario sites investigated 27
Figure 10. BBR test mould schematic and sample dimensions 30
Figure 11. DENT test sample preparation 32
Figure 12. Dimensions of DENT test sample 32
Figure 13. Representation of failed sample in DENT test 33
Figure 14. Sample graph of elastic recovery test 35
Figure 15. Cracking distress versus construction year for 20 eastern and northeastern
Ontario pavement contracts constructed between 1993 and 2000 37
Figure 16. Typical surface condition of Highway 28 contract near Burleigh Falls 40
Figure 17. Typical surface condition of Highway 41 contract near Denbigh 43
Figure 18. Typical surface condition for Highway 41 north of Kaladar 45
Figure 19. Typical surface condition for Highway 62 near Bloomfield 49
Figure 20. Typical surface condition of Highway 138 north of Monkland 51
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Figure 21. Regular BBR grading results according to AASHTO M320 criteria for 20
eastern and northeastern Ontario contracts 53
Figure 22. Three-day grade loss in LS-308 versus cracking severity in 20 eastern and
northeastern Ontario contracts 54
Figure 23. Grading results according to MTO LS-308 55
Figure 24. Approximate CTOD in relation to the cracking severity for 20 eastern and
northeastern Ontario contract sites 56
Figure 25. Cracking distress versus the limiting temperature where the total displacement
reaches 0.2 mm 58
Figure 26. Cracking distress versus the limiting temperature where the viscous
displacement reaches 0.2 mm 59
Figure 27. Cracking distress versus the limiting temperature where the elastic recovery
reaches 75% 59
Figure 28. Effect of conditioning time on limiting BBR temperatures 60
Figure 29. Distress survey for Highway 655 trial sections (Soleimani et al. 2009) 61
Figure 30. Representative photographs for sections 1-5 62
Figure 31. Regular AASHTO M320 specification grades for laboratory-aged (open bars)
and recovered (closed bars) asphalt cements 63
Figure 32. LS-308 specification grades for laboratory-aged (open bars) and recovered
(closed bars) asphalt cements 64
Figure 33. Worst LS-308 grade losses for laboratory-aged (open bars) and recovered
(closed bars) asphalt cements 64
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Figure 34. Approximate critical crack tip opening displacements (CTOD) for original
asphalt cements (open bars) and recovered materials (closed bars) 66

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List of Tables

Table 1. Eastern Ontario Contract Details 26
Table 2. Highway 655 Trial Section Details 28

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