Evaluation Indicator of Asphalt Mixture Rutting Susceptibility

Abstract Rutting is the major cause of failure of asphalt pavements. Excessive rutting often results in premature maintenance and rehabilitation activities, reducing the service life of the pavement. It is very important to evaluate the rutting susceptibility of asphalt mixtures in the laboratory at high temperatures. Wheel-tracking devices have gained a great deal of attention as candidates for proof-testing the ability of asphalt mixtures to resist rutting; currently, there are a number of different wheel-tracking devices and different evaluation indicators. The objective of this study is to evaluate indicators of asphalt mixture rutting susceptibility in the laboratory, using the wheel-tracking test and data for different asphalt mixtures and test conditions. It is found that the dynamic stability indicator in the Japanese standard is not suitable for evaluating the rutting susceptibility of asphalt mixtures, but that the relative deformation ratio is a suitable indicator.