Evaluation of Cracking Performance of Asphalt Mixtures from Asphalt Concrete Pavement with Overlay Tester Test

This paper presents a laboratory evaluation and field verification of the cracking performance of seventeen asphalt mixtures that were placed on pavement test sections. Plant-mixed lab-compacted (PMLC) specimens were produced to assess their mechanical performance, specifically their cracking performance with the crack progression rate from the overlay tester (OT) test. Also, the cracking condition of the pavement test sections was monitored semi-annually with pavement distress condition surveys. Field cores were also extracted from the pavement test sections to assess their cracking properties with the OT test. The cracking performance of the asphalt mixtures obtained from testing the PMLC specimens and field cores was compared and related to the observed field cracking performance as a means of verification. The OT test can delineate between good and poor performing asphalt mixtures in terms of cracking potential and should be considered as a design tool for routine evaluation of asphalt mixtures.