Browsing by Subject "asphalt"
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Item Asphalt Oxidation Kinetics and Pavement Oxidation Modeling(2012-07-16) Jin, XinMost paved roads in the United States are surfaced with asphalt. These asphalt pavements suffer from fatigue cracking and thermal cracking, aggravated by the oxidation and hardening of asphalt. This negative impact of asphalt oxidation on pavement performance has not been considered adequately in pavement design. Part of the reason is that the process of asphalt oxidation in pavement is not well understood. This work focused on understanding the asphalt oxidation kinetics and on developing pavement oxidation model that predicts asphalt oxidation and hardening in pavement under environmental conditions. A number of asphalts were studied in laboratory condition. Based on kinetics data, a fast-rate ? constant-rate asphalt oxidation kinetics model was developed to describe the early nonlinear fast-rate aging period and the later constant-rate period of asphalt oxidation. Furthermore, reaction kinetics parameters for the fast-rate and constant-rate reactions were empirically correlated, leading to a simplified model. And the experimental effort and time to obtain these kinetics parameters were significantly reduced. Furthermore, to investigate the mechanism of asphalt oxidation, two antioxidants were studied on their effectiveness. Asphalt oxidation was not significantly affected. It was found that evaluation of antioxidant effectiveness based on viscosity only is not reliable. The asphalt oxidation kinetics model was incorporated into the pavement oxidation model that predicts asphalt oxidation in pavement. The pavement oxidation model mimics the oxidation process of asphalt in real mixture at pavement temperatures. A new parameter, diffusion depth, defined the oxygen diffusion region in the mastic. A field calibration factor accounted for the factors not considered in the model such as the effect of small aggregate particles on oxygen diffusion. Carbonyl area and viscosity of binders recovered from field cores of three pavements in Texas were measured and were used for model calibration and validation. Results demonstrated that the proposed model estimates carbonyl growth over time in pavement, layer-by-layer, quite well. Finally, this work can be useful for incorporating asphalt oxidation into a pavement design method that can predict pavement performance with time and for making strategic decisions such as optimal time for maintenance treatments.Item Constant displacement rate experiments and constitutive modeling of asphalt mixtures(Texas A&M University, 2006-04-12) Hariharakumar, PradeepThe focus of this dissertation is on constant displacment rate experiments on asphalt concrete and on developing continuum models in a general thermo-mechanical setting which will corroborate with the experimental results. Modeling asphalt concrete and predicting its response is of great importance to the pavement industry. More than 90 percent of the US Highways uses asphalt concrete as a pavement material. Asphalt concrete exhibits nonlinear response even at small strains and the response of asphalt concrete to different types of loading is quite different. The properties of asphalt concrete are highly influenced by the type and amount of the aggregates and the asphalt used. The internal structure of asphalt concrete keeps on evolving during the loading process. This is due to the influence of different kinds of activities at the microlevel and also due to the interaction with the environment. The properties of asphalt concrete depend on its internal structure. Hence we need to take the evolution of the internal structure in modeling the response of asphalt concrete. Experiments were carried out at different confinement pressures and displacement rates on cylindrical samples of asphalt concrete. Two different aggregates were used to make the sample -limestone and granite. The samples were tested at a constant displacement rate at a given confinement pressure. The force required to maintain this constant displacement rate is measured and recorded. The frame-work has been developed using the idea of multiple natural configurations that was introduced recently to study a variety of non-linear dissipative response of materials. By specifying the forms of the stored energy and rate of dissipation function of the material, specific models were developed using this frame work. In this work both a compressible and an incompressible model were developed by choosing appropriate forms of stored energy and rate of dissipation function. Finally the veracity of the models were tested by corroborating with the experimental results. It is anticipated that the present work will aid in the development of better constitutive equations which in turn will accurately model asphalt concrete in laboratory and in field.Item Evaluation of moisture damage within asphalt concrete mixes(Texas A&M University, 2004-09-30) Shah, Brij D.Pavements are a major part of the infrastructure in the United States. Moisture damage of these pavements is a significant problem. To predict and prevent this kind of moisture damage a great deal of research has been performed on this issue in past. This study validates an analytical approach based on surface energy aimed at assessing moisture damage. Two types of bitumen and three aggregates are evaluated in the study. The two types of bitumen represent very different chemical extremes and the three aggregates (a limestone, siliceous gravel, and granite) represent a considerable range in mineralogy. Moisture damage was monitered as a change in dynamic modulus with load cycles. The analysis demonstrates the need to consider mixture compliance as well as bond energy in order to predict moisture damage. Mixtures with the two types of bitumen and each aggregate with and without hydrated lime were evaluated. The hydrated lime substantially improved the resistance of the mixture to moisture damage.Item The morphology of polymer modified asphalt and its relationship to rheology and durability(Texas A&M University, 2008-10-10) Kraus, Zachary RothmanPolymers are added to asphalt binders primarily to stiffen the binder at higher temperatures and thus to protect the pavement against rutting at summertime temperatures early in the pavement's life. Also, it has been noted that polymers typically increase the ductility of a binder and that some polymer-asphalt combinations are especially effective. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that enhancing a binder's ductility, and maintaining this enhancement with binder oxidative aging, contributes to enhanced binder durability in pavements. However, polymer-asphalt interactions and how they might contribute to improved binder performance is not well understood. The goal of this work was to probe the relationship of polymer morphology on asphalt binder rheology and mixture durability. Experiments were conducted on asphalt mixtures and binders, and as a function of oxidative aging. PFC mixtures, which are an open mixture designed to allow enhanced water drainage, were of specific interest. These mixtures were tested for Cantabro Loss, an indicator of a mixture's likelihood of failure by raveling. Asphalt binders were tested using dynamic shear rheometry (DSR), which provided the DSR function, (G' /?'/G'), a measure of binder stiffness that includes both the elastic modulus and the flow viscosity), ductility (used to measure the elongation a binder could withstand before failure), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), used to estimate the relative amount of polymer) and fluorescence microscopy (used to image the polymer morphology in the asphalt binder). From these data, relationships were assessed between binder morphology and binder rheology and between binder rheology and mixture durability, all as a function of binder oxidative aging. Polymer morphology related to ductility enhancement. Polymer morphology related to a change in the DSR function, relative to the amount of polymer, as measured by the polymer GPC peak height. Cantabro loss correlated to the DSR function (R2=0.963). The overall conclusion is that polymer morphology, as indicated by fluorescence microscopy, relates to both the rheological properties of the binder and the Cantabro loss of the mixture. These relationships should yield a better understanding of polymer modification, increased mixture durability (decreased raveling) and improved rheological properties (DSR function and ductility).Item Thermomechanical Constitutive Modeling of Viscoelastic Materials undergoing Degradation(2012-07-16) Karra, SatishMaterials like asphalt, asphalt concrete and polyimides that are used in the transportation and aerospace industry show viscoelastic behavior. These materials in the working environment are subject to degradation due to temperature, diffusion of moisture and chemical reactions (for instance, oxidation) and there is need for a good understanding of the various degradation mechanisms. This work focuses on: 1) some topics related to development of viscoelastic fluid models that can be used to predict the response of materials like asphalt, asphalt concrete, and other geomaterials, and 2) developing a framework to model degradation due to the various mechanisms (such as temperature, diffusion of moisture and oxidation) on polyimides that show nonlinear viscoelastic solid-like response. Such a framework can be extended to model similar degradation phenomena in the area of asphalt mechanics and biomechanics. The thermodynamic framework that is used in this work is based on the notion that the 'natural configuration' of a body evolves as the body undergoes a process and the evolution is determined by maximizing the rate of entropy production. The Burgers' fluid model is known to predict the non-linear viscoelastic fluid-like response of asphalt, asphalt concrete and other geomaterials. We first show that different choices for the manner in which the body stores energy and dissipates energy and satisfies the requirement of maximization of the rate of entropy production that leads to many three dimensional models. All of these models, in one dimension, reduce to the model proposed by Burgers. A thermodynamic framework to develop rate-type models for viscoelastic fluids which do not possess instantaneous elasticity (certain types of asphalt show such a behavior) is developed next. To illustrate the capabilities of such models we make a specific choice for the specific Helmholtz potential and the rate of dissipation and consider the creep and stress relaxation response associated with the model. We then study the effect of degradation and healing due to the diffusion of a fluid on the response of a solid which prior to the diffusion can be described by the generalized neo-Hookean model. We show that a generalized neo-Hookean solid - which behaves like an elastic body (i.e., it does not produce entropy) within a purely mechanical context - creeps and stress relaxes when infused with a fluid and behaves like a body whose material properties are time dependent. A framework is then developed to predict the viscoelastic response of polyimide resins under different temperature conditions. The developed framework is further extended to model the phenomena of swelling due to diffusion of a fluid through a viscoelastic solid using the theory of mixtures. Finally, degradation due to oxidation is incorporated into such a framework by introducing a variable that represents the extent of oxidation. The data from the resulting models are shown to be in good agreement with the experiments for polyimide resins.