Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324

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Composites Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

Investigation of fracture behavior of asphalt mixture composite using

energy-based approach
Meng Ling a, *, Yao Zhang b, Fawaz Kaseer a, Amy Epps Martin c, Robert L. Lytton c
a
Texas A&M Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University System, 3135 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
b
School of Transportation, Southeast University, 2 Sipailou, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210096, China
c
Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 3136 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study aims to determine the endurance limit and macro-cracking threshold of a viscoelastic composite
Asphalt mixture material using a fracture mechanics approach. Asphalt mixtures containing different recycled material contents
Endurance limit and recycling agent doses were fabricated and long-term oven aged. Dynamic modulus tests were first conducted
Bond energy
to obtain linear viscoelastic properties including complex modulus and phase angle, and then damage properties
Discrete element model
Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)
were determined from monotonic semi-circular bending tests. Pseudo displacement was calculated to remove the
Rejuvenator viscous effect from the total dissipated energy, and the energy balance approach and Griffith crack growth
Black space diagram criterion were modified and used to predict the bond energy with the aid of discrete element modeling. With the
bond energy computed, the endurance limit was determined to be frequency and mixture composition depen­
dent. The macro-cracking threshold defined as the boundary between healable micro-cracks and non-healable
macro-cracks was also identified to be frequency and composition dependent using a damage density concept.
Both the endurance limit and the macro-cracking threshold were utilized in the asphalt mixture Black Space
diagram, which is capable of illustrating the effects of aging, recycled materials content and recycling agent dose
in asphalt mixtures for the prediction of fracture performance.

1. Introduction macro-cracking is also essential to define when non-healable damage

Asphalt mixtures are viscoelastic composite materials consisting of
asphalt mastic, air voids, coarse aggregates and may include some ad­
ditives such as fibers or recycled materials [1–3]. In a viscoelastic
composite material, two stages of the fracture process are normally
identified as crack initiation and crack propagation. When the applied
strain or stress level is greater than the endurance limit of the asphalt
mixture composite, multiple micro-cracks are initiated from internal
flaws such as air voids. After a certain period of loading time,
micro-cracks coalesce and macro-cracks are formed mainly within the
asphalt mastic at the beginning of the crack propagation phase. The
macro-cracks propagate without being able to heal and proceed cata­
strophically to failure. The entire fracture process is influenced by
temperature, loading rate and mixture composition. The endurance limit
is a crucial micro-cracking threshold, which defines the maximum strain
or stress level that a material withstands without introducing any
damage. A second threshold between micro-cracking and
does occur.
The endurance limit was first introduced in metal science and has
been widely used in different areas including various types of composite
materials [4–8]. The concept of endurance limit for asphalt mixtures and
asphalt pavements was introduced several decades ago and serves as the
basis for the design of perpetual pavements. A perpetual pavement is
usually defined as an asphalt pavement designed and built to last longer
than 50 years without requiring major structural rehabilitation or
reconstruction, and needing only periodic surface renewal in response to
distresses confined to the top layers of the pavement [9]. Thus, cracking
should not occur by theoretically controlling the induced tensile strain at
critical locations in the pavement structure to be below the endurance
limit.
It was first reported that the endurance limit of asphalt mixtures was
approximately 70 microstrain, which was evaluated based on a criterion
of fatigue life of more than 5 million load cycles of laboratory beam
fatigue tests [10]. Carpenter et al. (2003) [11] further investigated the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: mengling@tamu.edu (M. Ling), 230159543@seu.edu.cn (Y. Zhang), fawazkaseer@tamu.edu (F. Kaseer), a-eppsmartin@tamu.edu (A.E. Martin),
r-lytton@civil.tamu.edu (R.L. Lytton).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.107324
Received 14 May 2019; Received in revised form 9 July 2019; Accepted 11 August 2019
Available online 16 August 2019
1359-8368/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Ling et al.
endurance limit of asphalt mixture beams using an energy-based method
and defined the plateau value. National Cooperative Highway Research
Program (NCHRP) project 9–38 was performed to confirm the existence
of an endurance limit for asphalt mixtures [12]. A shift factor of 10 was
proposed to shift a 40-year service life of approximately 500 million
ESALs to a beam fatigue tests of 50 million load cycles. It was also found
that the endurance limit varied with different volumetric properties,
dynamic modulus, and test temperatures. In addition, NCHRP project
9–44A [13] further validated the endurance limit and proposed a
regression equation to predict the endurance limit based on the results of
beam fatigue tests and uniaxial tests. Both NCHRP projects confirmed
that the endurance limit is not a single value for an asphalt mixture. In
addition, the beam fatigue test is known to be time-consuming, and the
beam sample is difficult to fabricate using the Superpave gyratory
compactor (SGC). To overcome these issues, repeated tension test and
simplified viscoelastic continuum damage (S-VECD) test were proposed
to determine the endurance limit with a relatively shorter testing time
[14,15]. Nevertheless, repeated load tests usually have higher vari­
abilities and longer preparation and testing time compared with
monotonic load tests, and the monotonic test is particularly important
for routine use, quality control and quality assurance if prediction ac­
curacy and sensitivity to mixture composition are not compromised.
The monotonic semi-circular bending (SCB) test is a widely used test,
which is known to be simple and repeatable when compared with
several laboratory tests. Using SCB test results, asphalt mixture fracture
properties such as fracture energy, fracture toughness, stress intensity
factor, critical J-integral and flexibility index were used to rank cracking
resistance and were correlated to field performance [16–19]. However,
some researchers found that there are some limitations of these analysis
methods. For example, it is unknown if the same ranking can be ach­
ieved using the indices obtained at different temperatures or fre­
quencies. Fracture energy is not appropriate as a single factor to rank
cracking resistance, especially when recycled materials are included in
the mixture composition [18]. Fracture toughness and fracture energy
may also rank the fracture resistance of mixtures oppositely [20].
Rivera-Perez et al. (2018) [21] noticed that correction factors for the
flexibility index need to be applied to rectify the effects of thickness,
loading rate, notch length and air void content. Moreover, limited
studies have accounted for the viscoelastic nature of asphalt mixtures,
which is more significant for cracking at intermediate temperatures. The
indices noted above were mainly developed for ranking, and they are
not actual material properties and cannot be used for pavement design.
In addition to these limitations related to the testing method, the use
of recycled materials in asphalt mixtures introduces more challenges
due to the highly aged, stiff, and brittle nature of asphalt binders in these
recycled materials. The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is very
common in the asphalt paving industry due to positive environmental
and economic benefits associated with replacing virgin materials
(asphalt binder and aggregate) with recycled materials [22]. However,
technical challenges arise in terms of mixture production and compac­
tion and long-term cracking performance. To avoid these challenges,
recycling agents (or rejuvenators) are added to the asphalt mixtures with
high RAP content to reduce the stiffness and improve the cracking
resistance [23,24]. Limited studies have been carried out to investigate
the viscoelastic properties and fracture properties of asphalt mixtures
with high RAP content and recycling agents [18,25,26]. Most impor­
tantly, no study is currently available in the literature that evaluated and
determined the endurance limit and macro-cracking threshold of these
types of asphalt mixtures.
The objective of this study is to develop a fracture mechanics model
consisting of modified Griffith crack criterion and energy balance
equation to determine the endurance limit and macro-cracking
threshold of a viscoelastic composite material such as asphalt mixture.
After the two strain level thresholds are calculated, they are utilized in
the Black Space diagram to predict crack initiation and crack propaga­
tion of asphalt mixtures.
2
Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324
This paper is organized as follows. The viscoelastic fracture me­
chanics model is first derived and discussed in the next section. The
laboratory tests and test results are then presented in the third section.
The forth section demonstrates discrete element modeling (DEM) of the
SCB test, and the fifth section presents the analysis results, compares the
endurance limit as it is calculated and predicted using two methods and
illustrates the use of the endurance limit and the macro-cracking
threshold in the Black Space diagram. The final section summarizes
the major contributions and recommends future studies.
2. Modified Griffith crack criterion with energy balance
approach
Griffith crack growth criterion with energy balance approach was
originally developed to characterize the fracture growth of elastic ma­
terials with plane stress assumption [27]. In this study, Griffith crack
criterion was modified to be three-dimensional, taking into account the
viscoelastic nature of asphalt mixtures and SCB specimen geometry, test
protocol and results. The major outcome was the analysis of the crack
growth from the initiation of micro-cracks to the formation of
macro-cracks.
The energies dissipated near the crack tip in the SCB test mainly
include the energy used to overcome the viscous effect and the energy
used to produce damage such as fracture and plastic deformation at the
fracture process zone. To remove the viscous resistance of asphalt
mixtures, pseudo displacement in the extended elastic-viscoelastic cor­
respondence principle was calculated using Equation (1) [28].
Z t
1 dδðτÞ
δR ðtÞ ¼ Eðt τÞ dτ (1)
ER 0 dτ
where ER is the reference modulus assigned as the Young’s modulus
[29], which is the instantaneous response of the material; Eðt τÞ is the
relaxation modulus converted from dynamic modulus using the Prony
series model in Equations (2) and (3); δðτÞ is the measured displacement
with time; and τ is the time integrated variable. The instantaneous
modulus was calculated in Equation (4).
0
X
M
ω2 k2j Ej XM
ωkj Ej
E ðωÞ ¼ E∞ þ ; E00 ðωÞ ¼
j¼1 1þω 2 2
kj 2 2
j¼1 1 þ ω kj (2)
� �
X
M
t
EðtÞ ¼ E∞ þ Ej exp (3)
j¼1
kj
X
M
Eð0Þ ¼ E∞ þ Ei (4)
j¼1
where E ðωÞ and E00 ðωÞ are the real part and the imaginary part of the
0
complex modulus, respectively; EðtÞ is the relaxation modulus; Eð0Þ is
the instantaneous modulus; E∞ is the long-term equilibrium modulus; Ej
are the components of the relaxation modulus; kj are the relaxation
times; and M is the total number of Kelvin elements in the Prony series
model.
Fig. 1(a) illustrates a typical load-pseudo displacement curve for the
SCB test of an asphalt mixture. With the pseudo displacement calculated,
an approximate linear relationship in the viscoelastic stage is obtained
between load and pseudo displacement, and the initial slope is the un­
damaged pseudo stiffness. After the linear portion, micro-cracks
appeared which cause the slope to become smaller with time and the
secant pseudo stiffness to decrease with time. Note that the peak point of
the load-pseudo displacement curve corresponds to the tensile strength
of the specimen. The load declines after the peak, and macro-cracks are
formed. The calculated pseudo stiffness with time is shown in Fig. 1 (b).
The transition point is identified as the boundary between micro-
M. Ling et al. Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324

which is detailed in the next section. The volume of the strain energy
release zone was defined as two cones above and below the circular
micro-cracks and was calculated using Equation (6) [14].
1
Vr ¼ 2m⋅ π2 c3 (6)
3
Dividing P2 in Equation (5) on both left- and right-hand sides yielded
Equation (7).
K
�0 (7)
0
K ¼ �
2π 2 c 3 m 1 3ΔGK0
1 3 V0 π P2 c

The energy balance equation in Equation (5) was used to determine

the critical crack size above which the pseudo strain energy release rate
always exceeds the ability to store energy on the newly created crack
surface. The associated critical condition was determined in Equation
(8).
� �
2
2 d P2KmV r
dðmπc ΔGÞ V
0 0
¼0 (8)
dc dc
The condition for micro-crack growth in Equation (9) was deter­
mined based on Equation (8).
2ΔGK0 V0
P2 c ¼ (9)
π
Equation (9) was then substituted into Equation (7), which yielded
Equation (10).
� �
K0 π 2 c3 m
(10)
0
K ¼� � ffi K0 1
2 3 3V0
1 þ π3Vc 0m

Substituting Equation (7) into Equation (10) determined Equation

Fig. 1. Illustration of fracture behavior of SCB test. (11).
� �
4mcV0 ΔG2 K 20
P ¼ K0 1 δ (11)
cracking and macro-cracking, which is also coincident with the 3P4
maximum phase angle of the asphalt mixture if measured.
As multiple micro-cracks coexist and propagate in the crack initia­ where δ is the pseudo displacement calculated in Equation (1). Equation
tion phase when the applied strain exceeds the endurance limit, the (12) was determined after rearranging Equation (8).
energy balance equation of Griffith crack criterion for micro-cracking is 4mcV0
P5 K0 δP4 þ ðΔGK0 Þ2 K0 δ ¼ 0 (12)
presented in Equation (5). In this stage, the pseudo strain energy in 3
asphalt mixtures is redistributed with loading time. Specifically, a
When the load is increasing to the peak corresponding to the tensile
certain amount of the stored energy of an undamaged material is
strength of the specimen, the following condition applies:
released due to crack formation, which results in the decrease of total
stored energy. On the other hand, some of the released energy is stored dP
¼0 (13)
back on the new crack surfaces as the surface energy. In Equation (5), dδ
the left-hand side indicates the measured apparent energy and the right- As a result, the peak load pmax at the crack tip was calculated using
hand side presents the actual energy. The apparent energy is defined for Equation (14) based on Equation (13).
a material with an increasing phase angle due to cracking but with a
� �14
constant internal geometry. The actual energy is established for a ma­ 4
(14)
1
Pmax ¼ mcV0 ðΔGK0 Þ2
terial with a change of internal geometry due to cracking but with a 3
constant phase angle.
The relation between air void content and mean micro-crack size and
� �
P2 P2 P2 Vr number, and the cross-sectional area are presented in Equations (15)
0 ¼ m þ mπc2 ΔG (5)
2K 2K0 2K0 V0 and (16), respectively.

where P is the load at the crack tip at time t; K is the secant pseudo
0 mπc2
AV ¼ (15)
stiffness of the SCB specimen at time t; K0 is the undamaged pseudo A
stiffness of the SCB specimen; Vr is the volume that releases pseudo
A ¼ ts ðr dÞ (16)
strain energy due to crack opening; V0 is the SCB sample volume; m is
the number of micro-cracks at time t; c is the mean micro-crack radius at where AV is the air void content; A is the cross sectional area; ts is the
time t; and ΔG is the bond energy of the asphalt mixture. specimen thickness; r is the specimen radius; and d is the notch depth. In
Load and displacement at the crack tip are known to be difficult to the micro-crack phase, m decreases and c increases with loading time,
measure. In this study, DEM was developed to compute the peak load at and their product remains approximately constant. The initial damage
the crack tip for use in the energy balance equation (Equation (5)), density of the asphalt mixtures was the air void content, and the

3
M. Ling et al. Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324

corresponding initial mean crack radius was predicted using processed 7.0 � 1.0%. Two to three replicates were produced, and the average
images from the X-ray Computed Tomography as a second order poly­ values of dynamic modulus jE*j and phase angle (φ) of the replicates
nomial function of the air void content. The detailed discussion can be were used in the master curve construction. The modified Christensen-
found in [29]. The mean air void radius corresponding to the air void Anderson-Marasteanu (CAM) model shown in Equation (18) was used
content was calculated as 0.00079 m. to construct the dynamic modulus master curve for the asphalt mixtures
The endurance limit of an asphalt mixture was then calculated using [31,32].
the Griffith crack initiation criterion in Equation (17).
Eg
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi jE* ðωÞj ¼ Ee þ 2 3 (18)
2ΔG � �logR 2
εe ¼ (17) 6 ωCE 7 R
πEc0 41 þ ωαT 5 log 2

where c0 is the initial crack length; E is the undamaged modulus at a

desired temperature and frequency; εe is the endurance limit. As
modulus increases, bond energy decreases or air void content increases,
the endurance limit decreases.
3. Specimen fabrication and mechanical testing
3.1. Fabrication and conditioning of asphalt mixtures
where jE* ðωÞj is the dynamic modulus with reduced frequency ω; Ee is
the equilibrium modulus; Eg is the glassy modulus; ωCE is the crossover
frequency; αT is the time-temperature shift factor; and R is the rheo­
logical index.
The time-temperature shift function was determined using the Wil­
liams–Landel–Ferry (WLF) equation (Equation (19)).
C1 ðT TR Þ

αT ¼ 10C2 þðT TR Þ
(19)
In this study, four types of asphalt mixtures were produced: (1) a
virgin mixture without RAP or recycling agent, labeled as Control; (2) a where C1 and C2 are the fitting parameters; T is the test temperature; and
recycled mixture with 27% RAP without recycling agent, labeled as 0.22 TR is the reference temperature of 20 � C.
RBR; (3) a recycled mixture with 36% RAP without recycling agent, The dynamic modulus master curves for the four types of asphalt
labeled as 0.31 RBR; and (4) a recycled mixture with 36% RAP and 5.5% mixtures are illustrated in Fig. 2. In most frequencies, the dynamic
recycling agent (RA) (modified vegetable oil (V)), labeled as 0.31 RBR modulus of the 0.31 RBR mixture was highest, followed by the 0.22 RBR
RA. The term RBR refers to recycled binder ratio, and it represents the mixture, the control mixture, and the 0.31 RBR RA mixture. The recy­
percentage of RAP binder by weight with respect to the total binder by cling agent is shown to successfully reduce the stiffness of asphalt
weight in the asphalt mixture. The dosage of recycling agent (5.5%) was mixtures containing recycled materials, which agrees with the findings
selected as recommended by [30]. Table 1 summarizes the components of previous studies [23,25,30].
and characteristics of the four types of asphalt mixtures. All mixtures The phase angle master curves were constructed using an unsym­
fabricated had the same aggregate type (limestone), identical aggregate metrical bell-shaped function (Equation (20)) [31], as presented in
gradation, and nominal maximum aggregate (NMAS) size of 12.5 mm. Fig. 3. The change of the phase angle with frequency after the peak is
The aggregate gradation of the four asphalt mixtures are presented in opposite from that of the dynamic modulus. The time-temperature shift
Table 2. function and the coefficients for the phase angle were identical to those
After mixing, the loose mixtures were short-term oven aged for 2 h at determined for the dynamic modulus.
135 � C prior to compaction in the SGC. After compaction, the specimens φmax
were long-term oven aged for 5 days at 85 � C per AASHTO R 30 before φðωÞ ¼ �� � �� �β � �� �βþ1 (20)
ωCE ωαT
conducting mechanical tests. exp βþ1
β ωαT 1 ωCE

3.2. Evaluation of viscoelastic properties of asphalt mixtures
Dynamic modulus is a widely used linear viscoelastic property of
asphalt mixtures. In this study, the dynamic modulus and corresponding
phase angle of the asphalt mixtures were determined using the Asphalt
Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT) in accordance with AASHTO TP 79
with testing temperatures of 4 � C, 20 � C and 40 � C and testing fre­
quencies of 0.01 (40 � C only), 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10 and 25 Hz, using cy­
lindrical specimens (150 mm � 170 mm) cored and trimmed to final test
dimensions (100 mm � 150 mm) with controlled air voids contents of
where φmax is the maximum phase angle, degree; and β is the shape
parameter of the master curve.
The reference modulus and relaxation modulus determined were
used in Equation (1) to calculate the pseudo displacement of each test
and the undamaged pseudo stiffness. Table 3 summarizes the E1 and m-
value of the relaxation modulus of each mixture type and undamaged
pseudo stiffness. The m-value of the 0.31 RBR RA mixture was higher
than that of the control mixture, which indicates that adding the recy­
cling agent recovered the relaxation capability of the asphalt mixtures
with RAP after long-term aging.

3.3. Evaluation of fracture properties of asphalt mixtures

Table 1
The SCB test protocol developed and verified by the Illinois Center of
Components and characteristics of asphalt mixtures.
Transportation was adopted to evaluate the cracking resistance. The test
Asphalt Mixture Properties Control 0.22 0.31 0.31 RBR
was performed per AASHTO TP 124 at 25 � C using semi-circular test
RBR RBR RA
specimens (cylindrical specimens (150 mm � 61 mm) cut in half and
Binder Performance Grade (PG) 58–28 58–28 58–28 58–28 notched along the axis of symmetry 15 mm deep and 1.5 mm wide) with
Binder Contenta 5.6% 5.6% 5.4% 5.4%
controlled air voids contents of 7.0 � 1.0%. The test was conducted with
RAP Contentb – 27% 36% 36% RAP
RAP RAP a monotonic load applied at the top of the specimens until failure. The
RBR – 0.22 0.31 0.31 load-line displacement rate was 50 mm/min, and the load and
Recycling agent Type and – – – 5.5% V displacement with time were recorded. A minimum of four replicates
Dosagec
were fabricated for the test. Test results of one replicate of each of the
a
Total binder in the mixture (virgin binder þ recycled binders). four asphalt mixtures are presented in Fig. 4.
b
By percentage of total weight of the mixture.
c
By percentage of total binder in the mixture.

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M. Ling et al. Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324

Table 2
Aggregate gradation of asphalt mixtures.
Sieve size 3/4 1/2 3/8 #4 #8 #16 #30 #50 #100 #200

Percent Passing 100 97.88 89.80 68.06 49.39 34.79 22.15 8.05 4.42 3.46

Fig. 4. Load-displacement curves of one replicate of four asphalt mixture types.

Fig. 2. Dynamic modulus master curves of asphalt mixtures.

specimmen, the load frame containing two support rods and a loading
rod were also modeled in the DEM. Since the asphalt mixture is a het­
erogeneous viscoelastic material, the virtual sample was modeled as a
composite of three ingredients including coarse aggregates, asphalt
mastic and air voids. The generation procedures are as follows:

1. The aggregate gradation in Table 2 was converted to the volume

fraction of coarse aggregates in each sieve size to generate the coarse
aggregate spheres in the cylinder sample space, as demonstrated in
Fig. 5(b). The conversion function is shown in Equation (21), which
has been verified in [35].
ðPiþ1 P Þð1 AVÞ
Ji ¼ � i � (21)
100 1 þ Pρb ρa
b

where Ji is the volume fraction of coarse aggregates in the ith sieve size;
Pi is the passing ratio in the ith sieve size; Piþ1 is the passing ratio in the
iþ1st sieve size; Pb is the binder content; and ρb and ρa are the density of
Fig. 3. Phase angle master curves of asphalt mixtures. binder and aggregates, respectively.

2. The discrete elements with radius of 0.2 mm were then generated to

Table 3
Summary of relaxation modulus parameters and undamaged stiffness. fulfill the semicircle cylinder space with regular arrangements in
Fig. 5(c). The elements within coarse aggregate spheres were
Mix Type E1 (MPa) m-value K0 (N/m)
selected as coarse aggregates elements, while the other elements
Control 878 0.30 56697161 were selected as asphalt mastic elements. Considering the low an­
0.22 RBR 1989 0.28 65164801
gularity of these aggregates, the user-defined polyhedron aggregate
0.31 RBR 2893 0.25 71988587
0.31 RBR RA 1162 0.31 32853280 generation program was implemented to replace the aggregate
spheres into polyhedron shapes, as presented in Fig. 5(d). More de­
tails of the polyhedron aggregate generation program can be found
4. Numerical modeling of SCB test in [33].
3. After separating the coarse aggregate and asphalt mastic, a certain
4.1. Virtual sample preparation number of elements were randomly deleted to form the air voids with
target porosity, as shown in Fig. 5(e). Finally, the three-phase
Numerical modeling is an effective tool to simulate laboratory and semicircle model including coarse aggregates, asphalt mastic and
field performance of asphalt mixtures and asphalt pavements, especially air voids was generated as exhibited in Fig. 5(f).
when it is difficult to measure stress and strain fields at locations such as
the crack tip [33,34]. According to AASHTO TP 124, the virtual SCB test After generating the three ingredients in the virtual SCB sample, the
was constructed to simulate the laboratory test results using the DEM. material properties and micro-contact models were used within and
The test apparatus is illustrated in Fig. 5(a). In addition to the between these ingredients, which are presented in Table 4. The contact-

5
M. Ling et al. Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324

Fig. 5. Virtual SCB test setup: (a) Test apparatus; (b) Coarse aggregate spheres; (c) Fulfillment of discrete element in the semicircle cylinder space; (d) Generation of
polyhedron aggregates; (e) Display of air voids; (f) Display of three-phase virtual semicircle model.

Table 4
Material and interface properties used in DEM.
Component Properties Configuration Density (Kg/m3) Friction Coefficient Poisson’s Ratio Contact Contact
Model 1 Model 2

Within Aggregates 2700 0.5 0.3 LCM LCM

CBM CBM

Within Mastic 2000 0.5 0.35 VECM PSM

CBM CBM

Mastic-Aggregate Interface NA NA NA VECM PSM

CBM CBM

Aggregate-Aggregate Interface NA NA NA LCM LCM

bond model (CBM) was set between the elements within an aggregate to " � �#
X
M
make the elements bonded with each other in one aggregate in Equation Kn ðtÞ ¼ 4R E∞ þ Ej exp
t
(24)
(22). Since the aggregates were assumed as elastic materials, the linear j¼1
kj
contact model (LCM) was used at the contact points between different
" �#
aggregates to represent their elastic property in Equation (23). The 2R XM �
t
asphalt mastic was first modeled as viscoelastic material, and the contact Ks ðtÞ ¼ E∞ þ Ej exp (25)
1þν kj
stiffness of elements belonging to the asphalt mastic was determined to
j¼1

be sensitive to loading time. Hence, the viscoelastic contact model

where Sn is the micro contact bond strength; R is the radius of discrete
(VECM) was set at contact points within the asphalt mastic and between
elements; σt is the tensile strength; E is elastic modulus of aggregates; Kn
the mastic and aggregates, which is shown in Equations (24) and (25).
and Ks are normal and shear contact stiffness of aggregates, respectively;
Sn ¼ 4R2 σ t (22) ν is the Poisson’s ratio; and Kn ðtÞ and Ks ðtÞ are normal and shear contact
stiffness of asphalt mastic, both of which change with the loading time.
Δσ K n 1 þ ν However, the computation efficiency of DEM was prohibitively slow
E¼ ¼ ¼ Ks (23) when the VECM for the asphalt mastic was added into the simulation.
Δε 4R 2R
Hence, a user-defined pseudo stiffness model (PSM) was also developed

6
M. Ling et al. Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324

to improve the efficiency. The input parameters of the PSM were ob­
tained by fitting a cubic function to the pseudo stiffness with loading
time curve like that in Fig. 1. The contact bond model was also used at
the contact points within asphalt mastics. The model parameter was
selected by matching the laboratory test results of the load versus
pseudo displacement curve.

4.2. Virtual test results

After the DEM model was constructed, the pseudo displacement was
added to the loading rod to conduct the virtual SCB test. The load and
pseudo displacement were monitored throughout the simulation. The
simulation results of the crack initiation phase are presented in Fig. 6. As
shown in Fig. 6(a), the load versus displacement curve from the simu­
lation matched well with the laboratory test results. The change of
contact stiffness at every timestep during simulation resulted in tiny
fluctuations of the virtual load-displacement curve at entire timeline. To
compare the simulation results using the VECM with the simulation
results using the PSM, the load-displacement curve in Fig. 6 (a) was
converted to the load-pseudo displacement curves using Equation (1).
The results after conversion were compared with the simulation results
using the PSM, as shown in Fig. 6 (b). It is shown that the peak load for
these curves were very close to each other. The micro contact force and
the horizontal pseudo displacement at the crack tip were also monitored,
as shown in Fig. 6(c) (blue curve). The results showed that the peak
tensile load at the micro-crack tip was almost 20 times smaller than the
compressive load at the loading rod. The inner particle contact force
chain was also observed from the simulation process presented in Fig. 6
(c). The part with red color indicates the tensile contact force between
contact elements while the part with black color represents the
compressive contact force. It is obvious that the contact area which was
acting with tensile contact force increased with the increase of pseudo
displacement. The bond energy of each mixture type was determined
after obtaining the peak force using Equation (14) and the calculation
results are listed in Table 5.

5. Results and discussion

5.1. Evaluation of endurance limit and macro-cracking threshold

Previous studies have proved that time-temperature superposition

remains valid for damaged asphalt mixtures, which indicates that the
shift factors obtained in Equation (19) are also capable of predicting the
modulus at other frequencies or temperatures [36,37]. The endurance
limits of the four asphalt mixtures at 20 � C and various frequencies are
shown in Fig. 7. It shows that the endurance limit is not a single value for
each asphalt mixture type. The endurance limit decreases with fre­
quency, which means that the asphalt pavement is more prone to crack
when the traffic loading frequency increases. The endurance limit is also
lower when the asphalt mixture becomes brittle at low temperatures. As
expected, the 0.31 RBR mixture had the lowest endurance limit, fol­
lowed by the 0.22 RBR mixture. The 0.31 RBR RA mixture and control
mixture had similar endurance limits, indicating that adding the recy­
cling agent improved the fracture resistance significantly even after
long-term aging conditioning.
The macro-cracking threshold was determined based on the energy
exchange which occurs in healing. As the cracks close, they release
surface free bond energy, and that energy is stored as strain energy in the Fig. 6. Simulation results of DEM in crack initiation phase.
conical volumes above and below each crack. The energy exchange is
expressed in Equation (26). The critical point in the healing process is where ΔGf is the total Gibbs free energy; εf is the strain level of the
the mean crack size, cf, beyond which cracks will not heal. It is at this macro-cracking threshold; E is the apparent modulus of a damaged
0

point that macro-cracks begin to grow. material; and cf is the critical crack length equal to the crack length
1 cf
0
E ε2f corresponding to the critical damage density.
ΔGf ¼ πc2f ⋅ ⋅2π⋅2⋅ π c2f ΔG (26) Damage density defined as the ratio of lost area due to crack opening
2 3 2

7
M. Ling et al. Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324

Table 5 Similar to the derivation with the characteristics of load and pseudo
Calculated peak load and bond energy for each mixture type. displacement, the tensile stress with time was calculated as shown in
Mixture Type Peak Load at Crack Tip (N) Bond Energy (N/m) Equation (32).
" � � #
Control 170 0.072 π 2 �m � 4 ΔGE 2
0.22 RBR 180 0.070 σ¼E 1 c ε (32)
0.31 RBR 195 0.075 3tf A π 2 σt
0.31 RBR RA 120 0.062
The tensile strength of the specimen was calculated in Equation (33).
�� � �1
4 �m � 4
(33)
1
σt ¼ c ðΔGEÞ2
3tf A

It is demonstrated that a thicker film thickness reduces the tensile

strength of the asphalt mixture, and a greater value of bond energy or
modulus increases the tensile strength. Since the horizontal tensile stress
at the crack tip was not measured in the SCB test, the maximum stress
was predicted using Equation (34), which is in Specification [38].
4:263Pmax
σ max ¼ (34)
Dts

where σ max is the maximum tensile stress; and D is the diameter of the
specimen.
The relation between the modulus and the tensile strength in [39]
was utilized to predict the associated modulus at the testing temperature
and frequency with a reduction factor of 0.4, as shown in Equation (35)
[40].
X
5

Fig. 7. Endurance limit at different frequencies of asphalt mixtures. σt ¼ an ðlogEt Þn (35)

n¼0

in the cross-sectional area was introduced to calculate the true stress where Et is the tensile modulus in psi at a loading time of 1800 s; σ t is the
applied on a damaged material in Equation (27). tensile strength in MPa; and an are the known regression coefficients.
σA An asphalt film thickness of 10 μm was assumed, and the bond en­
φ¼1 (27)
σT ergy was backcalculated, which was further used to predict the endur­
ance limit. The results of endurance limit at 20 � C and 1 Hz calculated
where φ is the damage density; σ A is the apparent stress; and σ T is the using the two methods are presented in Fig. 8, which also validates the
true stress. mechanistic analysis of endurance limit.
The apparent stored energy in a damaged material with apparent
stress equals the true stored energy with true stress in Equation (28), and
the apparent modulus was determined in Equation (29). 5.3. Fracture mechanics-based black space diagram for asphalt mixtures
2 2
σ σ
A
¼ T
(28) The Black Space diagram has been widely used to graphically char­
2E0 2E
acterize the aging effect on the viscoelastic properties of asphalt binders
including complex shear modulus and phase angle [41]. It has been
(29)
0
E ¼ Eð1 φÞ2
utilized to evaluate if the corresponding asphalt mixture is susceptible to
As a three-phase composite material, the macro-cracking threshold cracking based on the correlation between ductility of asphalt binder
was calculated as shown in Equation (30). and the Glover-Rowe (G-R) parameter [42]. The modulus and phase
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi angle at the temperature of 15 � C and frequency of 0.005 rad/s are
εf ¼
1 2ΔG
þ εe (30) normally determined from the complex shear modulus test. In the Black
1 φf πEcf Space diagram, two thresholds of the G-R parameters (G R ¼

where φf is the critical damage density as the sum of the air void content
and the asphalt mastic content.

5.2. Comparison with endurance limit predicted using stress-strain

relations

To provide an alternative approach, a similar form of energy balance

equation in Equation (31) was developed to determine the tensile
strength of the SCB specimen assuming the stress and strain near the
crack tip are known.
� �
σ2 σ2 σ2 πc2 c
0 Atf ¼ Atf 2 2π m þ πmc2 ΔG (31)
2E 2E 2E 2 3

where σ is the horizontal tensile stress at the middle point of the notch of
the SCB specimen; and tf is the asphalt film thickness. Fig. 8. Comparisons between calculated and predicted endurance limit.

8
M. Ling et al.
Fig. 9. Endurance limit versus mixture G-R parameter at 20 � C.
Fig. 10. Mixture black space diagram for asphalt mixtures at different recycling
dosages and aging levels.
G* ðcos φÞ2 =ðsin φÞ) are selected to assess the onset of cracking and sig­
nificance of cracking [43]. However, it is well known that the binder
properties cannot fully represent the mixture properties. The original
asphalt binder G-R parameter can be replaced by the mixture G-R
parameter with dynamic modulus and phase angle [26,44,45]. In this
study, the endurance limit and the macro-cracking threshold were
plotted against the mixture G-R parameter to characterize the crack
initiation and crack propagation.
Fig. 9 shows the change of endurance limit with the G-R parameter
for the four asphalt mixture types. It illustrates that the endurance limit
of the asphalt mixtures decreased with the G-R parameter, which follows
the similar trend as for the ductility of asphalt binders.
The endurance limit and macro-cracking threshold were also intro­
duced in the Black Space diagram. The frequency of 5 Hz and the tem­
perature of 20 � C were selected based on the finding of [26]. Two values
of the long-term oven aged control asphalt mixture G-R parameters were
determined as 9.824E6 kPa and 2.516E7 kPa at this frequency and
temperature and shown in Fig. 10, respectively, from which were
calculated based on the endurance limit and macro-cracking threshold.
As shown in Fig. 10, the recycling agent was found to rejuvenate the
recycled asphalt materials and restore the relaxation ability and the
cracking resistance to be similar to that of the control mixture after
long-term oven aging.
6. Summary and conclusions
This study determined the endurance limit and macro-cracking
9
Composites Part B 181 (2020) 107324
threshold of asphalt mixture composite using the energy-based
approach with the modified Griffith crack initiation criterion. The dy­
namic modulus and phase angle were first measured as the linear
viscoelastic properties, and the SCB tests were conducted to obtain the
fracture characteristics. When the applied strain exceeded the endur­
ance limit, micro-cracks were initiated from the air voids. The micro-
cracks increased in size and decreased in number after initiation. The
non-healable macro-cracks appeared once a critical strain level known
as the macro-cracking threshold was reached. The DEM was developed
to simulate the fracture process and was utilized to calculate the load
and displacement at the crack tip. Both the endurance limit and the
macro-cracking threshold were mechanistically determined. Summary
and conclusions based on the laboratory and theoretical work performed
in this study are presented as follows:
1. The bond energies of asphalt mixtures were calculated based on the
energy-based viscoelastic fracture mechanics approach and the DEM
simulation;
2. The endurance limit of asphalt mixtures decreased with loading
frequency, modulus and air void content, and increased with
temperature;
3. The macro-cracking threshold of asphalt mixtures was determined to
be related to the critical damage density as the sum of the asphalt
mastic content and air void content;
4. The endurance limit and macro-cracking threshold were imple­
mented in the Black Space diagram to evaluate the effects of aging,
recycled material content and the recycling agent of asphalt mixtures
in terms of cracking performance; and
5. The two formulas presented in this study for the endurance limit and
macro-cracking threshold which used only material properties and
mixture compositions are temperature, frequency, composition,
aging and moisture dependent and may be used in asphalt pavement
design.
The mechanics-based method developed can be applied to other
fracture tests such as the indirect tensile test. Future study will
concentrate on the analysis of the material’s fracture properties and J-
integral at the crack tip for crack initiation and propagation, and a
comprehensive evaluation of recycled materials and rejuvenators in
asphalt mixtures on long-term fracture performance.
Acknowledgement
This study was financially supported by National Cooperative
Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Projects 1–52: A Mechanistic-
Empirical Model for Top-Down Cracking of Asphalt Pavement Layers
and 9–58: The Effects of Recycling Agents on Asphalt Mixtures with
High RAS and RAP Binder Ratios.
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