Mesomechanical modeling of the thermo-viscoelastic, thermo-viscoplastic, and thermo-viscodamage response of asphalt concrete

  • Rashid K. Abu Al-Rub
  • Taesun You
  • Eyad A. Masad
  • Dallas N. Little
Original Research
First Online:

Abstract

This paper focuses on the meso-scale computational modeling of the thermo-mechanical response of asphalt concrete mixes using for the first time a compressive coupled thermo-viscoelastic, thermo-viscoplastic, and thermo-viscodamage constitutive model. Asphalt concrete is represented by two-dimensional images of the microstructure that consist of three phases: aggregate, matrix, and interfacial transmission zone (ITZ). The matrix and ITZ are considered as thermo-viscoelastic, thermo-viscoplastic, and thermo-viscodamaged materials, while the aggregate is considered to be elastic. The effects of variation in aggregate shape, distribution, volume fraction, ITZ strength, strain rate, and temperature on the degradation and micro-damage patterns in asphalt concrete are investigated under uniaxial tension, compression, and repeated creep-recovery loading conditions. It is concluded that the aggregate volume fraction and distribution significantly influence the micromechanical response of asphalt concrete. Additionally, the results indicate that the constitutive model presented in this paper can provide a computational tool for predicting the overall macroscopic behavior of asphalt concrete based on the distribution of the microstructure constituents and the properties of these constituents. As such, the results of this computational model can be used to guide the design of asphalt concrete mixtures.

Keywords

Micromechanics Finite element method Damage Viscoelastic Viscoplastic Temperature Fatigue 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Qatar Nation Research Fund (QNRF) through the National Priority Research Program project 08-310-2-110. The QNRF funding supported the developed meso-scale model presented in this study. In addition, the authors acknowledge the support of the US Federal Highway Administration through the Asphalt Research Consortium (ARC). The ARC funding supported the development of the constitutive model presented in this study. Also, fruitful discussions with Mr. Masoud Darabi and Dr. Sun-Myung Kim from Texas A&M University about the meso-scale simulations are acknowledged.

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Copyright information

© Indian Institute of Technology Madras 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Rashid K. Abu Al-Rub
    • 1
  • Taesun You
    • 1
  • Eyad A. Masad
    • 1
    • 2
  • Dallas N. Little
    • 1
  1. 1.Zachry Department of Civil EngineeringTexas A&M UniversityCollege StationUSA
  2. 2.Mechanical Engineering Program, Texas A&M University at QatarDohaQatar

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