Fracture testing for the evaluation of asphalt pavement joints

Asphalt joints are inevitable parts of every pavement. Although much attention is dedicated to the construction of such joints, reliable tools for assessing the mechanical properties of joints for design and performance assessment are still scarce. This is particularly true for cold joints when attaching a new hot pavement to a cold existing pavement as in the case of large patches for pavement repair. This paper intends to evaluate different new or modified static fracture testing methods for ranking existing joint construction techniques. Some of these testing methods, such as indirect tensile test, direct tensile test and 4-point bending test are familiar in the field of asphalt pavement characterisation, but have scarcely been used for assessing the quality of joints so far. These three test types were adopted and evaluated for joints and the test results were analysed with finite element (FE) software ABAQUS. Different joints for testing were prepared in the laboratory using a special specimen construction procedure. The results suggest that joints with inclined interfaces seem to show more promising behaviour than vertical joints. It was confirmed that starting compaction from the hot side of the joint generally produces better results than compaction starting from the cold side of the joint. Pre-heating of the joint surface and using a bond sealant appears to provide the best results.