A unified model to describe the time-temperature dependency characteristics of several bound road materials

In this contribution the development of a unified model that describes the time-temperature dependency characteristics of several bound road materials will be presented. The model is based on observed physical trends of several engineering properties and the applicability of the time-temperature superposition principle to elastic as well as inelastic properties of several bound materials. The model has five parameters, two of which represent the temperature susceptibility of a bound material and three other parameters that describe individual properties of that material. Furthermore, it will be shown that the model has been used to successfully describe several properties of 18 bound road materials e.g. flexural stiffness, compressive, tensile and shear strength. The model has been validated by predicting values of properties outside the range of the data (extrapolation), for properties other than those used for estimation of the parameters of the model. Some apparent advantages of the unified model include: considerable reduction in testing programs, prediction of material properties which are impossible or difficult to determine experimentally, construction of master curves for different properties, logical material models and hence, numerically stable FE codes.