scholarly journals Experimental and Numerical Analysis on Mesoscale Mechanical Behavior of Coarse Aggregates in the Asphalt Mixture during Gyratory Compaction

Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
De Zhang ◽  
Zhiqiang Cheng ◽  
Dajiang Geng ◽  
Shengjia Xie ◽  
Tao Wang

Compaction is a critical step in asphalt pavement construction. The objective of this study is to analyze the mesoscale mechanical behaviors of coarse aggregates in asphalt mixtures during gyratory compaction through experiments and numerical simulation using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). A novel granular sensor (SmartRock) was embedded in an asphalt mixture specimen to collect compaction response data, including acceleration, stress, rotation angle and temperature. Moreover, the irregularly shaped coarse aggregates were regenerated in the DEM model, and numerical simulations were conducted to analyze the evolution of aggregate interaction characteristics. The findings are as follows: (1) the measured contact stress between particles changes periodically during gyratory compaction, and the amplitude of stress tends to be stable with the increase of compaction cycles; (2) the contact stress of particles is influenced by the shape of aggregates: flat-shaped particles are subjected to greater stress than angular, fractured or elongated particles; (3) the proportion of strong contacts among particles is high in the initial gyratory compaction stage, then decreases as the number of gyratory compactions grows, the contacts among particles tending to homogenize; (4) during initial gyratory compactions, the normal contact forces form a vertical distribution due to the aggregates’ gravity accumulation. The isotropic distribution of contact forces increases locally in the loading direction along the axis with a calibrated internal angle orientation (1.25°) in the earlier cyclic loading stage, then the local strong contacts decrease in the later stage, while the strength of the force chains in other directions increase. The anisotropy of aggregate contact force networks tends to weaken. In other words, kneading and shearing action during gyratory compaction have a positive impact on the homogenization and isotropy of asphalt mixture contact forces.

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Tian Xiaoge ◽  
Wang Xiaofei ◽  
Yuan Huitong

Crushing resistance of coarse aggregate is the key to the stability and durability of the skeleton structure of permeable asphalt (PA) mixture. To determine the technical requirements of crushing value of coarse aggregate used in PA mixture, step-loading compression tests were conducted on the mixtures of PA-13 and a control asphalt mixture AC-13, respectively. Virtual compression tests under the same loading conditions were simulated on the corresponding digital specimens with PFC2D®. By comparing the load-deformation curves obtained from the actual tests and virtual simulation, the values of the microscopic parameters of the two graded mixtures were obtained through trial calculation and adjustment. Then, the states of contact stress between aggregates in PA-13 and AC-13 mixtures under the standard crushing pressure (400 kN) were analyzed with PFC2D®. It was found that the average normal contact stress and the maximum normal contact stress between aggregates in PA-13 were 1.71 times and 1.28 times larger than those in AC-13, respectively. The crushing values of two different lithologic coarse aggregates were measured under different pressures, 400 kN or 600 kN, respectively. The crushing value criterion of coarse aggregates used in the PA mixture was suggested to be no greater than 16% after comparative analysis.


Author(s):  
Xue Wang ◽  
Shihui Shen ◽  
Hai Huang

Compaction is one of the most critical steps in asphalt pavement construction. Traditional compaction relies heavily on engineering experience and post-construction quality control and can lead to under/over compaction problems. The emerging intelligent compaction technology has improved compaction quality but is still not successful in obtaining mixture properties of a single pavement layer. Besides, very few studies have discussed the internal material responses during field and laboratory compaction to explain the meso-scale (i.e., particle scale) compaction mechanism. Knowledge in those areas may greatly promote the development of smart compaction. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the kinematic behavior of the asphalt mixture particles (translation and rotation) under six types of field and laboratory compaction methods and establish the relationship between the field and the laboratory compaction by using a real-time particle motion sensor, SmartRock. It was found that particle movement pattern was mainly affected by the compaction mode. At the meso-scale where particle behavior is the focus, the kneading effects of a pneumatic-tire roller can be simulated by laboratory gyratory and rolling wheel compaction, and the vibrating effects of a vibratory roller can be simulated by Marshall compaction. However, none of those laboratory compaction methods can completely simulate the field compaction. Under vibratory rolling, particle acceleration decreased fast in the breakdown rolling stage. Under pneumatic-tire rolling, particle angular position change was related to aggregate skeleton, and particle relative rotation showed a decreasing trend that was consistent with the laboratory gyratory compaction results. Those kinematic responses can potentially be used to monitor density change in field compaction.


2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 305-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeo Nagura ◽  
Hideo Matsumoto ◽  
Yoshimori Kiriyama ◽  
Ajit Chaudhari ◽  
Thomas P. Andriacchi

The aim of the study was to estimate the tibiofemoral joint force in deep flexion to consider how the mechanical load affects the knee. We hypothesize that the joint force should not become sufficiently large to damage the joint under normal contact area, but should become deleterious to the joint under the limited contact area. Sixteen healthy knees were analyzed using a motion capture system, a force plate, a surface electromyography, and a knee model, and then tibiofemoral joint contact forces were calculated. Also, a contact stress simulation using the contact areas from the literature was performed. The peak joint contact forces (M±SD) were 4566 ± 1932 N at 140 degrees in rising from full squat and 4479 ± 1478 N at 90 degrees in rising from kneeling. Under normal contact area, the tibiofemoral contact stresses in deep flexion were less than 5 MPa and did not exceed the stress to damage the cartilage. The contact stress simulation suggests that knee prosthesis having the contact area smaller than 200 mm2may be problematic since the contact stress in deep flexion would become larger than 21 MPa, and it would lead damage or wear of the polyethylene.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teng Man

The compaction of asphalt mixture is crucial to the mechanical properties and the maintenance of the pavement. However, the mix design, which based on the compaction properties, remains largely on empirical data. We found difficulties to relate the aggregate size distribution and the asphalt binder properties to the compaction behavior in both the field and laboratory compaction of asphalt mixtures. In this paper, we would like to propose a simple hybrid model to predict the compaction of asphalt mixtures. In this model, we divided the compaction process into two mechanisms: (i) visco-plastic deformation of an ordered thickly-coated granular assembly, and (ii) the transition from an ordered system to a disordered system due to particle rearrangement. This model could take into account both the viscous properties of the asphalt binder and grain size distributions of the aggregates. Additionally, we suggest to use the discrete element method to understand the particle rearrangement during the compaction process. This model is calibrated based on the SuperPave gyratory compaction tests in the pavement lab. In the end, we compared the model results to experimental data to show that this model prediction had a good agreement with the experiments, thus, had great potentials to be implemented to improve the design of asphalt mixtures.


Author(s):  
Khaled E. Zaazaa ◽  
Brian Whitten ◽  
Brian Marquis ◽  
Erik Curtis ◽  
Magdy El-Sibaie ◽  
...  

Accurate prediction of railroad vehicle performance requires detailed formulations of wheel-rail contact models. In the past, most dynamic simulation tools used an offline wheel-rail contact element based on look-up tables that are used by the main simulation solver. Nowadays, the use of an online nonlinear three-dimensional wheel-rail contact element is necessary in order to accurately predict the dynamic performance of high speed trains. Recently, the Federal Railroad Administration, Office of Research and Development has sponsored a project to develop a general multibody simulation code that uses an online nonlinear three-dimensional wheel-rail contact element to predict the contact forces between wheel and rail. In this paper, several nonlinear wheel-rail contact formulations are presented, each using the online three-dimensional approach. The methods presented are divided into two contact approaches. In the first Constraint Approach, the wheel is assumed to remain in contact with the rail. In this approach, the normal contact forces are determined by using the technique of Lagrange multipliers. In the second Elastic Approach, wheel/rail separation and penetration are allowed, and the normal contact forces are determined by using Hertz’s Theory. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are presented in this paper. In addition, this paper discusses future developments and improvements for the multibody system code. Some of these improvements are currently being implemented by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). In the accompanying “Part 2” and “Part 3” to this paper, numerical examples are presented in order to demonstrate the results obtained from this research.


2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kępniak ◽  
P. Woyciechowski ◽  
W. Franus

Abstract The preliminary stage of asphalt mixture production involves the drying and dedusting of coarse aggregates. The most common types of coarse aggregates used are limestone and basalt. In the process of drying and dedusting the dryer filter accumulates large quantities of waste in the form of mineral powder. This paper introduces an investigation into limestone powder waste as a potential microfiller of polymer composites. Physical characteristics such as the granulation the of powder collected from the filter - in terms of the season of its collection and the type of input materials used - were analysed. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used for the investigation described within this paper. The obtained results were compared against those of other materials which can be used as polymer composites microfillers.


Author(s):  
Anjaly M.

ABSTRACT Traffic is increasing day by day due to increased vehicle ownership and infrastructure development. As the modern highway transportation has high speed, high traffic density, heavy load and channelized traffic, bituminous concrete is subjected to various types of distress such as rutting, fatigue cracking and raveling. Fatigue cracking occurs because bituminous layers are weak in tension. Therefore reinforcement of the bituminous mixes is one approach to improve tensile strength. Natural fibers can be used for reinforcing as a substitute for synthetic fibers due to their lower cost, ecological recycling and low specific gravity. Among natural fibers growing attention is being paid to coir fiber due to its easy availability, good wearing resistance and more durable property. Also rutting along wheel path causes vehicle hydroplaning during rainy seasons due to loss of skid resistance. As well as water accumulated over the longitudinal depressions damages bond between binder and aggregates. Therefore there is a need for a durable mix which can increase the service life of pavement thus reduces life cycle cost. This study is about use of coir fiber in pavement construction to improve the performance characteristics of the asphalt mixture being used. Stone matrix asphalt mixture is a rut resistant and durable mix which is reinforced with coir fiber and tested for various performance characteristics. Coir fiber is a sustainable material which can be used for rutting resistant mixture.   Keywords: Stone matrix asphalt, Coir fiber, rutting


2021 ◽  
Vol 1023 ◽  
pp. 121-126
Author(s):  
Van Bach Le ◽  
Van Phuc Le

Although small amount of binder in asphalt concrete mixture may commonly range from 3.5 to 5.5% of total mixture as per many international specifications, it has a significant impact on the total cost of pavement construction. Therefore, this paper investigated the effects of five carbon nanotubes contents of 0.05%, 0.1%, 0.15%, 0.2%, 0.25% by asphalt weight as an additive material for binder on performance characteristics of asphalt mixtures. Performance properties of CNTs modified asphalt mixtures were investigated through the Marshall stability (MS) test, indirect tensile (IDT) test, static modulus (SM) test, wheel tracking (WT) test. The results indicated that asphalt mixtures with CNT modified binder can improve both the rutting performance, IDT strength and marshall stability of tested asphalt mixtures significantly at higher percentages of carbon nanotubes. However, the issue that should be considered is the construction cost of asphalt pavement. Based on the asphalt pavement structural analysis and construction cost, it can be concluded that an optimum CNT content of 0.1% by asphalt weight may be used as additive for asphalt binder in asphalt mixtures.


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