Journal of Emerging Trends in Engineering and Applied Sciences: Research Areas

Abstract:
Fracture distress in asphalt pavement has been a concern to designers from the start. Recently, a new test setup have been presented; the Semi-circular Notched Beam (SCNB) test that utilizes gyratory compacted samples. Using the output of SCNB, two fracture toughness parameters can be determined: J-Integral (Jc) and the Stress Intensity Factor (KIC). This paper addresses the evaluation of both parameters by utilizing vigorous sensitivity analyses through tornado plots and extreme tail analyses, which are used to identify the relative importance of the testing variables. Monte Carlo simulation was used to generate 50000 data points based on determining variables for both parameters. Results showed that unlike Jc, KIC was more sensitive to its determining variables and all these variables contribute the extreme values of KIC. Thus, KIC parameter is better when evaluating the fracture toughness of asphalt mixes, when determined by SCNB.

Keywords: asphalt mixes, fracture toughness, j-integral, stress intensity factor, sensitivity analysis, tornado plot, extreme tail analysis

Download full paper