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Article history: When testing asphalt binders under cyclic conditions, a drop in modulus is observed. This decrease has
Received 11 October 2011 been explained by an increase in the temperature of materials due to energy dissipation, thixotropy, and
Received in revised form 22 December 2011 damage. This study presents the application of a cyclic uniaxial tension–compression test to analyze the
Accepted 23 December 2011
causes and effects of that behavior on the fatigue properties of asphalt binders.
Available online 25 January 2012
The authors conducted both time and strain sweep tests and concluded that the steady-state complex
modulus depended only on the strain applied and was not influenced by the prior loading history, i.e.
Keywords:
both data sets converged to the same complex modulus values after a short number of cycles when
Asphalt binder
Fatigue
applying the same strain. In addition, by increasing and decreasing strain alternatively it was found that
Strain sweep the initial complex modulus drop is mostly caused by thixotropic effects rather than irreversible damage
Thixotropy and can be recovered. The recovery of material properties was faster and complete when the binder was
Uniaxial tension–compression test mechanically forced to its initial state instead of allowing it to rest (healing).
Dissipated energy density Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The problem with tests using the DSR comes when testing low
penetration graded binders or employing low test temperatures. In
The viscoelastic properties of bituminous mixtures make them these cases, it is very difficult to avoid detachment between the as-
the most common paving materials used worldwide. The constitu- phalt binder and the equipment steel plates [9,13]. Furthermore,
ent material that provides these properties is the asphalt binder, when applying low strain levels long time periods are required
i.e. a byproduct of the refining process of crude oil in petroleum to obtain the number of cycles to failure.
refineries [1,2]. One of the major forms of distress affecting bitumi- As a result, some authors are currently developing new test pro-
nous pavement performance is fatigue cracking, where the asphalt cedures to obtain the fatigue law of asphalt binders in a quicker
binder plays a crucial role [3–8]. and simpler way. Among them are strain sweep tests, in which
The fatigue behavior analysis of asphalt binders is typically loading cycles are applied with increasing strain amplitude. These
based on obtaining their fatigue law by cyclic strain-controlled tests are performed to obtain the complex modulus evolution with
tests. The most common device used for that purpose is the strain. Moreover, using viscoelastic continuum damage models
Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) [9–11]. This equipment applies (VECDs), the asphalt binder’s fatigue law can be estimated [14].
shear cycles at constant strain amplitude and records the shear Traditionally, it is stated that the evolution of complex modulus
stress necessary to maintain this strain level. When the shear stress during strain-controlled fatigue tests undergoes three different
drops to half the initial value, it is assumed that the specimen has stages or phases [15].
failed, and a number of cycles to failure is thus obtained for a given In phase I, a sudden drop in complex modulus is observed,
strain level. The performance of several tests at different strain which is often explained by an increase in the temperature of the
amplitudes allows obtaining as many pairs of strain-cycles values material due to the energy released during the test, an initial adap-
as tests performed. This type of test method is known as time sweep tation and a time-dependent change in viscosity, also known as
test. By plotting these data points together, a relationship is found thixotropy [16–18].
between the strain and number of cycles, Eq. (1) [12]: Thixotropy is defined as the continuous decrease of viscosity
with time when flow is applied to a sample that has been previ-
c ¼ a N b ; ð1Þ ously at rest and the subsequent recovery of viscosity in time when
the flow is discontinued [19]. Bituminous materials are known to
where N is the number of cycles to failure, c is the applied strain, experience thixotropic effects. For this reason, some authors have
and a and b are the fitting parameters (i.e. different for each binder). studied the influence of thixotropy on the behavior of these mate-
rials [18,20–23].
⇑ Corresponding author. In phase II, the modulus remains constant or decreases linearly
E-mail address: ramon.botella@upc.edu (R. Botella). with the number of cycles. Di Benedetto et al., state that fatigue
0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2011.12.098
F.E. Pérez-Jiménez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 31 (2012) 212–219 213
2. Test methods
D Fig. 3. Example of the strain semi-amplitude evolution in both the increasing and
e¼ ; ð2Þ the up & down strain sweep tests.
h
where D is the displacement and h is the height of the specimen, which was fixed at
39.5 mm.
All tests were carried out at 10 °C and 10 Hz. The final test setup is shown in
Fig. 1.
Time sweep tests are the most common fatigue test method. They consist of
applying a constant cyclic amplitude displacement or strain signal to the test
specimen until failure takes place. These tests allow to obtain the fatigue law of
the material using Eq. (1), as explained in Section 1. Their main drawback is the
large amount of test time and number of tests required to calculate a reliable
fatigue law.
Fig. 4. Computation of the complex modulus using the ellipse shaped test data.
In these tests, the complex modulus and the dissipated energy density decrease
with the number of cycles applied, particularly in the first cycles. After that, they
remain nearly constant or slightly decreasing linearly until failure, causing a rela-
tively sudden drop in these parameters. Failure is often assumed to occur when
the stiffness modulus drops below half the initial value.
strain semi-amplitude1 per cycle throughout the test, respectively. This test proce- 1
S ¼ jðx1 y2 þ x2 y3 þ . . . þ xn1 yn þ xn y1 Þ ðy1 x2 þ y2 x3 þ þ yn1 xn þ yn x1 Þj;
dure was called EBADE test, after the Spanish words for strain sweep test (Ensayo 2
de BArrido de DEformaciones). ð4Þ
2.4. Up & down strain sweep test where S is the area enclosed by the data points in [x] [y] units and xi, yi are the coor-
dinates of the n data points arranged clockwise or counterclockwise.
The up & down strain sweep test was performed to evaluate the recovery of
the complex modulus of the binder. The test starts the same as the increasing
strain sweep test. When the second strain step is over, after 10,000 cycles, the 3. Results
strain amplitude decreases to the initial value, i.e. that applied in the first step,
and the specimen is allowed to rest for 30 min. Then, the test starts again from 3.1. Test materials
the first step to the second and third and again strain is decreased step by step
to the initial value. This process is repeated, each time achieving higher strain
steps. To clarify the concept, Fig. 3 shows the evolution of the strain amplitude
Four different binders were employed, i.e. B 60/70, B 40/50,
throughout the test. B 13/222 and B 60/70 after aging by Rolling Thin-Film Oven Test
(RTFOT)3 [25,26], hereafter referred to as B 60/70 RTFOT.
2.5. Test parameters
3.2. Time sweep tests and fatigue laws
The most important parameters that can be computed during the test are: the
stress semi-amplitude, rmax, complex modulus, jE⁄j, and dissipated energy density,
DED, during each cycle. Due to the delay between stress and strain, an ellipse is The results from in the time sweep tests are summarized in
formed in the stress vs. strain plot. Using the maximum stress, rmax, and strain Fig. 5. The evolution of the complex modulus with the number of
semi-amplitudes, emax, it is possible to obtain the complex modulus, jE⁄j, applying cycles is plotted for each strain amplitude applied. All tests were
Eq. (3):
conducted at 10 °C and 10 Hz.
rmax Specimens tested at 0.08% strain semi-amplitude strain neither
jE j ¼ : ð3Þ showed an initial drop in complex modulus nor failed before
emax
2,000,000 cycles. By contrast, all tests carried out at higher strains
Fig. 4 illustrates the complex modulus computed using Eq. (3).
The dissipated energy density is proportional to the area of the ellipse described
showed the three fatigue stages. In phase I the complex modulus
in the tension–compression graph. To compute this area from the test data, Gauss
area formula was employed (Eq. (4)). 2
The two numbers represent the penetration grade range at 25°C in dmm for each
binder. Therefore, lower grades imply harder binders.
1 3
The strain semi-amplitude is half the strain amplitude (peak to valley) and it is This aging procedure is described in the ASTM standard D 2872-04 and is used to
the value plotted in all the graphical representations. simulate the aging process undergone by asphalt binders during mixture fabrication.
F.E. Pérez-Jiménez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 31 (2012) 212–219 215
The increasing strain sweep test does not directly provide the density. It seemed that an increase in strain amplitude did not
fatigue law of the material but it is a simple and quick procedure cause, the previous cycles to affect the binder’s phase II complex
to evaluate its fatigue behavior. Two important parameters can modulus or dissipated energy density at the given strain ampli-
be obtained: the initial complex modulus at low strain levels and tude. That would be the same as saying that for a given strain
the strain semi-amplitude at which the material fails. When test- amplitude (fixed temperature and frequency) there was a stabiliza-
ing asphalt binders with the same initial complex modulus, higher tion value for complex modulus and dissipated energy density
maximum strain semi-amplitudes imply better fatigue behaviors. independent of the previous loading history.
Furthermore, the maximum value of dissipated energy density The questions that arise are: what would happen if the strain
during a test can be used to compare binders with different initial amplitude was decreased instead of increased? Would the binder
complex moduli. recover its complex modulus? To answer these questions the
In order to design a bituminous mixture, it is necessary to con- authors designed the up & down strain sweep test described in
sider the modulus and ductility that must be provided by the bin- Section 2.4.
der. These two properties are closely related to the parameters
obtained in the increasing strain sweep test. 3.5. Up & down strain sweep test
3.4. Time sweep versus strain sweep When this test was first performed on B 40/50, its complex
modulus decreased as the strain amplitude increased, in this case
In order to compare the results obtained in the time and strain until the 5th step. However, when the strain amplitude started to
sweep tests, data from both tests were plotted on the same graph decrease, the complex modulus returned to the same values as at
for each binder. Fig. 8 summarizes these results for B 13/22 and the previous strain amplitude. Finally, when the first strain step
B 60/70 RTFOT. was again reached, the complex modulus had the same value as
The most interesting observation about these graphs is that at the beginning of the test. After allowing the specimen to rest
when the analyzed parameter stabilized during a strain step, the for 30 min, the test was repeated and the same result was found,
value at which it stabilized was extremely close to the stabilization Fig. 9. Therefore, the complex modulus loss observed when
value (phase II) obtained in the time sweep tests performed at the increasing strain was not caused by damage but by thixotropy
same strain amplitude. In other words, the complex modulus at resulting from binder’s viscoelastic behavior (Section 1).
which the binder stabilized during each strain step in the strain Apparently there were two phenomena affecting the complex
sweep tests was not affected by the previous strain amplitudes ap- modulus variation. One had and instant effect when the strain
plied to it. A similar situation happened to the dissipated energy amplitude was increased or decreased while the other was related
Fig. 8. Complex modulus and the dissipated energy density for B 13/22 and B 60/70 RTFOT from time and strain sweep test data.
F.E. Pérez-Jiménez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 31 (2012) 212–219 217
Fig. 9. First up & down strain sweep test performed on B 40/50. Complex modulus and dissipated energy density data.
Fig. 10. Up & down strain sweep test performed on B 13/22. Complex modulus Fig. 11. Up & down strain sweep test performed on B 60/70. Complex modulus
data. data.
with the time dependent viscous drag force that increased or de- graph for the same test clarifies this concept, Fig. 9. Note the expo-
creased with the number of cycles as the binder reached a steady nential decay and the logarithmic rise when the strain was in-
state for the given strain amplitude. The dissipated energy density creased and decreased, respectively.
218 F.E. Pérez-Jiménez et al. / Construction and Building Materials 31 (2012) 212–219
[22] Romberg JW, Traxler RN. Rheology of asphalt. J Colloid Sci 1947;2(1):33–47. [25] AASTHO. ASTM D 2872-04: Standard method of test for effect of heat and air
[23] Majidzadeh K, Schweyer HE. Non-newtonian behavior of asphalt cements. on a moving film of asphalt (rolling thin-film oven test); 2009.
Proc Assoc Asphalt Paving Technol 1965;34:20–44. [26] UNE-EN 12607-1:2007. Bitumen and bituminous binders. Determination of
[24] Pérez-Jiménez FE, Miró R, Martínez A, Botella R, Reyes O, Valdés G. False failure the resistance to hardening under influence of heat and air. Part 1: RTFOT
in flexural fatigue test. In: 2nd Workshop on four point bending, 24–25th method; 2007.
September 2009.