Effect of Temperature on Ultimate Axle Load for Semi-Rigid Asphalt Pavements

The effect of temperature on ultimate axle load of semi-rigid asphalt pavement was explored through theoretical analysis on a typical structure at various temperatures.Viscoelasticity of asphalt materials was considered and the relationship between asphalt binder and asphalt mixture moduli was utilized.Ultimate axle load,defined as the load at which the induced flexural stress was equal to the indirect tensile strength of the material at the bottom of any structural layer,was calculated using BISAR software.Results of the analysis show that temperature is an important factor influencing the ultimate axle load of semi-rigid asphalt pavement.When temperature increases from-30 ℃ to 60 ℃,the ultimate axle load may decrease by from 24 % to 46 % for variation of asphalt mixture surface layer from 10 cm to 30 cm in thickness.