Effectiveness of the shear strength ratio as an indicator of moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixtures

• Published in: Road materials and pavement design Vol. 23; no. 12; pp. 2839 - 2856
• Main Authors: Do, Thanh Chung, Lee, Hyun Jong, Baek, Cheol Min, Nguyen, Thanh Tu, Elipse, Carlo, Lee, Wang Soo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis 02-12-2022; Lavoisier
• Subjects: Asphalt; Asphalt mixes; Asphalt mixtures; Compressive strength; Effectiveness; model mobile load simulator; moisture damage; Moisture effects; Shear properties; Shear strength; shear strength ratio; Tensile strength; tensile strength ratio
• ISSN: 1468-0629; 2164-7402
• DOI: 10.1080/14680629.2021.2002181

In this study, the use of shear strength ratio (SSR) in analysing asphalt mixture's susceptibility to moisture was investigated and verified. Three surface and two base mixtures were considered for the asphalt mixture to be tested. Indirect tensile and uniaxial compressive strength tests were conducted in the laboratory to obtain the mixtures' shear properties. The SSR in the asphalt concrete (AC) layer was determined for six types of pavement structure with varying asphalt thicknesses. Even though the results of SSR agree with the result of tensile strength ratio (TSR) for the two base mixtures, the SSR values of the three surface mixtures are significantly different while the TSR values are similar, thus, SSR is more sensitive to moisture effect than TSR. Furthermore, the Model Mobile Load Simulator (MMLS3) was conducted on different types of compacted slabs. It was found that the results of MMLS3 and SSR show a good correlation for both surface and base mixtures. This proves the effectiveness of SSR as an indicator for evaluating the moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixtures for the entire AC layer.