The Correlation between Mixture Distress and Strength of Bituminous Concretes

Many distress mechanisms in pavement are known to be caused by the poor mechanical properties of bituminous concretes. Among many mechanical properties, tensile strength is one of the more important indicates that represent the resistance of pavement to traffic loading. However, there has been no relationship established between the strength and distress mechanisms. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate a correlation between the tensile strength value and the intensity of distress in bituminous concrete. Distress data were collected from an extensive field investigation over 77km of a four-lane highway in South Carolina, USA, and from laboratory prepared specimens in two phases of study. Strength data were obtained from a total of more than 400 field cores taken from the same highway and from 640marshall specimens of surface course mixture prepared in the laboratory. These data were analyzed using statistical test techniques. It was found from statistical analyses that the tensile strength of bituminous concrete had a strong relation with the pavement condition in the field. In the analysis of rutting and stripping, low strength concrete showed a higher distress rate in the mixture, and mixtures under distress in the field showed obviously reduced strength values. Stripping was found to be the most significant distress mechanism that was correlated with low strength bituminous concrete. Rutting appeared more frequently in a low strength pavement section of the highway as a sign of failure due to traffic loading.