Research of Method for Improving Antifreeze-Thaw Performance Based on Asphalt Mixture Freeze-Thaw Damage Development Process

• Published in: Advances in civil engineering Vol. 2020; no. 2020; pp. 1 - 12
• Main Authors: Zhang, Huaizhi, Gao, Lin, Ye, Youlin, Deng, Man, Sun, Yazhen, Ma, Zuoxin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2020; Hindawi; Hindawi Limited
• Subjects: Aggregates; Asphalt mixes; Asphalt pavements; Civil engineering; Damage; Freeze thaw cycles; Freeze-thaw durability; Low temperature; Mathematical models; Methods; Parameters; Porous materials; Splitting; Statistical analysis; Tensile strength; China
• ISSN: 1687-8086; 1687-8094
• DOI: 10.1155/2020/8879880

To improve the antifreeze-thaw performance of asphalt pavement in the seasonal freezing regions, the temperature and the time of freeze-thaw test were redesigned based on the climatic characteristics of the regions, and the splitting tensile strength tests were carried out to determine the low-temperature performance of the asphalt mixture under the influence of the gradation and the asphalt-aggregate ratio. A mathematical model was built to investigate the freeze-thaw damage law. According to the test results of splitting tensile strength of the asphalt mixture under freeze-thaw cycles, the probabilistic damage variable of the asphalt mixture was redefined and a physical probability model was built to analyse the freeze-thaw damage. Based on the freeze-thaw damage development process and the mechanism of the asphalt mixture, the effective measures to improve the antifreeze-thaw performance were provided and demonstrated through the correlations among the damage parameters (the shape parameter α, the scale factor λ, and the gradient factor ν) and the freeze-thaw resistance of the asphalt mixture. The test results showed that the splitting tensile strength decreased with the increase of the number of the freeze-thaw cycles. With the same gradation, the splitting freeze-thaw damage degree of the asphalt mixture with 5.8% asphalt-aggregate ratio is about 6% less than others after the 18th freeze-thaw cycle. The freeze-thaw resistance increases with the asphalt-aggregate ratio. With the same asphalt-aggregate ratio, the splitting freeze-thaw damage degree of S-grade mixtures is about 11.8% higher than that of Z-grade mixtures. S-grade mixtures have positive effects on the freeze-thaw resistance. The results suggest new measures for further investigation on the design and maintenance of the asphalt mixture in the seasonal freezing regions.