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Microstructural behavior of the low-temperature cracking and self-healing of asphalt mixtures based on the discrete element method

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Abstract

The research on the self-healing behavior of asphalt mixtures mainly focuses on the self-healing of fatigue load cracks; in contrast, less focus is placed on the self-healing of low-temperature splitting cracks. In this project, based on a low-temperature splitting test of asphalt mixtures and discrete element method (DEM) numerical simulation, a micro-mechanical model of the low-temperature splitting test was constructed. The crack evolution mechanism and self-healing performance of asphalt mixtures under different damage states were then analyzed. The research method was to divide the damage of the specimen in the DEM simulation into two types (fracture type 1, which corresponded to micro-damage in the splitting test, and fracture type 2, which corresponded to micro-cracks in the splitting test). Combined with the macroscopic damage–self-healing–macroscopic damage test, the relevant parameters of the DEM simulation were adjusted. A new index with which to evaluate the self-healing performance of asphalt mixtures was proposed via a simulation. The results of this study indicate that with the increase of the low-temperature load damage (cracks) of asphalt mixtures, the self-healing ability of asphalt mixtures decreases gradually. Moreover, it is found that the results of the DEM simulation for the analysis of the self-healing ability of asphalt mixtures for low-temperature splitting cracks are similar to the splitting test results. The research results reveal that the DEM can feasibly be used to simulate the self-healing process of asphalt mixtures, and has both theoretical and practical value for the in-depth study of microstructure damage and the self-healing of low-temperature splitting cracks of asphalt mixtures.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully appreciate the support from the Province Key Laboratory of Road in Northeast Forestry University and the Foundations for the Project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (E080703) and the Project of Heilongjiang Traffic and Transportation Department.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Civil Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, 150040, China

    Haitao Zhang, Hailin Liu & Weiqun You

  2. China Design Group Co., Ltd, Nanjing, 210000, China

    Weiqun You

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  1. Haitao Zhang
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  2. Hailin Liu
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Correspondence to Weiqun You.

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Zhang, H., Liu, H. & You, W. Microstructural behavior of the low-temperature cracking and self-healing of asphalt mixtures based on the discrete element method. Mater Struct 55, 18 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-021-01876-7

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