Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022

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Construction and Building Materials

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Shear behavior of hydraulic asphalt concrete at different temperatures

and strain rates
Weibiao Wang a,⇑, Kai Hu a, Shan Feng a, Gang Li b, Kaare Höeg c
a
Xi’an University of Technology, 5 Jinhua South Road, 710048 Xi’an, China
b
Shanxi Construction Investment Group, 9 Xinjian Road, 030002 Taiyuan, China
c
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, P.O. Box 3930, Ullevaal Station, NO-0806 Oslo, Norway

h i g h l i g h t s

Slant shear apparatus developed for testing asphalt concrete.

Shear tests conducted at different temperatures and shear strain rates.

Time-temperature superposition principle is confirmed.

Shear modulus and strength values to be used for different loading conditions.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Asphalt concrete is a viscoelastoplastic material and its behavior depends on temperature and time.
Received 10 April 2019 Asphalt concrete used as impervious core in embankment dams is subjected to different loading condi-
Received in revised form 11 August 2019 tions at different temperatures. A shear apparatus is described and used to investigate the stress-strain-
Accepted 15 September 2019
strength behavior of asphalt concrete by carrying out shear tests at different temperatures and shear
strain rates. The domains of shear modulus and shear strength values of asphalt concrete are established
by applying the time-temperature superposition principle. Shear modulus and shear strength values of
Keywords:
asphalt concrete for different loading conditions are compared. The documented behavior can be used
Embankment dam
Asphalt core
in the design of the asphalt core in embankment dams.
Shear test Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Time-temperature superposition principle
Modulus
Strength

1. Introduction
Asphalt concrete has been used as impervious core in embank-
ment dams since the 1960s, and near 200 asphalt core embank-
ment dams (ACED) have been built worldwide in different
countries [1,2]. The asphalt core is usually located in the central
region of embankment dams, and the temperature in the asphalt
core is around 5 °C for dams located in sub-arctic climate, and
around 20 °C in sub-tropical and tropic climates.
The asphalt core has to remain impervious without cracking
when subjected to different loading conditions during construc-
tion, impounding of the reservoir, fluctuations of the reservoir
level, and occasional earthquake shaking.
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: wangweibiao59@hotmail.com (W. Wang), fs-sg3@yeah.net
(S. Feng), kaare.hoeg@ngi.no (K. Höeg).
During the design stage for an asphalt core embankment dam
different asphalt mixes are tested to select a suitable mix. Conven-
tionally, triaxial compression tests are carried out on asphalt
concrete specimens with dimensions of 100 mm in diameter
and 200 mm in height at axial displacement rates of
0.2–0.067 mm/min (i.e., axial strain rate of 0.1–0.03%/min) and at
a specified temperature [3]. The purpose of the triaxial tests is to
confirm that the selected asphalt mix is flexible and ductile enough
to accommodate the deformations of the embankment dam under
different loading conditions without cracking.
The height of an asphalt core embankment dam is convention-
ally increased by 0.50–0.75 m/day during the construction season.
As a result, stepwise creep loading is considered as the representa-
tive type of loading in laboratory testing of material properties.
During the period 1970–1990, several long-term triaxial creep
loading tests on hydraulic asphalt specimens were carried out
[4–9]. Wang and Höeg [10] proposed a simplified material model
based on their own test results and results published in the

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117022
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022

literature. The behavior of asphalt concrete during unloading-

reloading cycles was also investigated to simulate the seasonal
raising and lowering of the reservoir and for earthquake loading.
The material model, based on the use of equivalent moduli, may
be applied for the analysis of asphalt core dams.
The asphalt core has to adjust to the imposed deformations
without a significant increase in permeability due to shear dilation
and cracking. There are several experimental investigations on the
cyclic behavior of asphalt core in dams in the literatures [11–13].
The general conclusion is that hydraulic asphalt concrete can sus-
tain severe dynamic and cyclic loading without significant material
degradation and cracking.
All the experimental investigations on hydraulic asphalt con-
crete behavior reported in the literatures were conducted at spec-
ified temperatures and strain rates, and it is difficult to draw
general conclusions. The general behavior of asphalt concrete and
interfaces between interlayers in pavements is determined by
using the time-temperature superposition principle [14–16].
While the investigations of asphalt pavements are commonly lim- Fig. 1. Aggregate gradation curve used in this study.
ited within a very small strain range, the asphalt core in dams may
be subjected to strain levels of 1%–5% [17,18]. Furthermore, the
design principles and loading conditions are quite different for Table 1
asphalt core in dams and asphalt pavements. Properties of the bitumen B70.

Hydraulic asphalt concrete used as impervious core in embank-
ment dams is placed and compacted layer by layer with compacted
layer thickness about 25 cm. The main objectives and scope of the
present study are: (1) develop a shear apparatus for testing
hydraulic asphalt concrete up to large shear strains; (2) test
asphalt concrete specimens at different temperatures and shear
strain rates; (3) apply the time-temperature superposition princi-
ple for the test results; and (4) compare the shear modulus and
strength values for asphalt concrete in the core of embankment
dams for different loading conditions. The study presented herein
builds upon and extends the previous investigation by Wang and
Höeg [10].
2. Materials and specimen preparation
Since the 1960s, Standard asphalt concrete core mix design cri-
teria have been developed and, with relatively small variations,
used for most of the built dams of this type [2]. The asphalt con-
crete mix design was carried out with different aggregate grada-
tions, filler contents and bitumen contents for an actual asphalt
core dam in China. The comparisons between different asphalt
mixes were focused on voids content, bending and triaxial behav-
ior, workability etc. Only the selected asphalt mix was used in this
study. The aggregate gradation curve and properties of the bitu-
men are shown in Fig. 1 and Table 1, respectively. The aggregates
were crushed limestone. The added filler consisted of limestone
powder, and the total filler content (<0.075 mm) was 11% of the
mineral weight. The bitumen was of grade B70 and the bitumen
content was 6.8% of the mineral weight (6.4% of the total weight).
The dry aggregates, added filler and bitumen were heated and
mixed, and then the asphalt mix with a temperature of about
150 °C was placed in four consecutive layers in a rectangular
mould with dimensions 120 mm (width) by 250 mm (length) by
250 mm (height), each layer originally approximately 70 mm in
height. The flat circular tamping surface of the standard Marshall
hammer was modified to a rectangular shape with dimensions of
70 mm by 110 mm. The hammer is moved along the length of
the mold in steps of 35 mm (one drop per step), covering about
half of the width of the rectangular surface. For each layer, 15
passes are used. After the layer is compacted the upper layer is
placed and the same compaction procedure is used. The com-
paction method is called SC compaction method (simulating the
Test properties Standard Test results
Penetration (25 °C, 100 g, 5 s)/(0.1 mm) 60–80 66
Ductility (15 °C, 5 cm/min)/(cm) 150 >150
Softening point (TR&B)/(°C) 46 49
Density (25 °C)(g/cm3) – 1.004
TFOT
Loss by mass (%) ±0.8 +0.04
Residual penetration (%) 61 75
Residual ductility (cm) 80 94
field roller compaction of the core) [18]. After compaction and
cooling, the asphalt block was taken out of the mould, cooled for
at least 10 h at 5 °C and then cut into 6 specimens with dimensions
100 mm (width) by 100 mm (length) by 60 mm (height). Fig. 2a
shows the compacted asphalt block while Fig. 2b shows how the
6 specimens were cut from the block. The cut surface of the block
shows that the 3 interfaces are undetectable. The densities of the
specimens were all in the range 2.419–2.456 g/cm3 corresponding
to the range 1.0%–2.5% of the air void contents.
3. Slant shear test and test results
3.1. Slant shear test apparatus and test program
Slant shear testing has been used in some previous investiga-
tions of cement concrete and asphalt concrete [20–23]. These stud-
ies have focused on the shear strength (bonding) along interfaces
with other structural materials and between compacted asphalt
concrete layers.
Fig. 3a shows the schematic for the slant shear test apparatus
built and used for the present testing. The top and bottom surfaces
of the asphalt specimen were bonded onto 10 mm thick steel
plates to obtain a uniform distribution of the normal and shear
stress in the shear plane of the asphalt specimen, and the specimen
was placed between the upper and lower collets shown on Fig. 3.
The clear distance between the collets normal to the slant shear
plane is 20 mm. The lower collet was fixed on the apparatus base,
and the upper collet was allowed to move horizontally when mov-
ing downwards. Two different sets of collets were prepared, one
with a slant slope of 45° and another with a slope of 60°. The ver-
tical force P and the vertical displacement d were measured during
 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022 3

Fig. 2. Compacted asphalt block and 6 asphalt specimens cut from the block (unit: mm). ➀ Interface; ➁ cutting line.

Fig. 3. Asphalt concrete slant shear test apparatus schematic (mm). ① Asphalt specimen with dimensions of 100 mm  100 mm  60 mm; ② 10 mm thick steel plate bonded
to asphalt specimen; ③ lower collet; ④ upper collet; ⑤ force head; ⑥ displacement meter.

testing. The average shear stress, shear strain and normal stress in
the shear plane of the asphalt specimen are calculated as:

P sin a d P cos a s
s¼ ; c¼ ; rn ¼ ; ¼ tan a ð1Þ
S 20 sin a S rn

s = shear stress along inclined plane, MPa;

P = vertical force, N;
a = shear angle, 45° or 60° in this study;
S = shear area of specimen, 10000 mm2 in this study;
c = shear strain;
d = vertical displacement, mm;
rn = normal stress on inclined plane, MPa.

Fig. 4 shows experimental setup for shear test. The test appara-
tus (Fig. 3b) was put in a water tank, the temperature in the tank
was controlled by circulating water from a constant temperature
water bath. The shear test was run with one of five specified shear
strain rates between 0.0001 and 0.03/s or 0.6%/min–180%/min. The
test program is shown in Table 2. According to the applied force Fig. 4. Experimental setup for shear test. ① Force sensor; ② displacement sensor;
limitation of the apparatus, some tests were unable to be carried ③ water tank; ④ inlet pipe from a constant temperature water bath; ⑤ outlet pipe
out at 10 °C at high shear strain rates. to the water bath.
4 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022

Table 2
Test program in this study.

Shear angle Temperature (°C) Shear strain rate (s1)

0.0001 0.0005 0.005 0.01 0.03
p p
45° 10 N/A N/A N/A
p p p p p
20
p p p p p
30
p p p
60° 10 N/A N/A
p p p p p
20
p p p p p
30

3.2. Shear test results 4. Analysis of test results

Three to five specimens were tested for each of the twenty-five 4.1. Shear modulus
(25) situations shown in Table 2, and the results of three specimens
(1, 2, 3) close to the average value of each situation are shown in All the secant shear moduli up to 1.0% shear strain are mea-
the following figures. Fig. 5 shows a typical asphalt specimen after sured from Figs. 6 and 7 and are shown in Fig. 8.
testing. The test results for shear angles of 45° and 60° are shown Asphalt concrete exhibits time- and temperature-dependent
in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, respectively. viscoelastoplastic behavior and gives high shear modulus at high
There is some scatter in the results, but the trends seem clear. shear strain rate and at low temperature conditions. For asphalt
All the curves of shear stress versus shear strain indicate an concrete used in pavements the time–temperature superposition
approximately linear relationship below 50% of the peak shear principle is commonly used. In this study, the ‘‘time” is shear strain
stress (shear strength, sf ). The phenomena that the stress–strain rate. The specified standard (reference) temperature T 0 is taken as
relationships present approximately linear below 30%-60% of 10 °C, and one series of tests was carried out at 10 °C. The temper-
strength and that they are not significantly affected by the magni- ature in the asphalt core in nearly all embankment dams is (except
tude of confining stress have been evidenced by many triaxial and during construction) in the range of 5 °C to 20 °C worldwide.
long-term triaxial compression shear test results [4–10,17–19,24]. According to the time–temperature superposition principle, if the
The phenomena are explained as there are more fine aggregates relation between shear modulus and shear strain rate at a certain
(28% in this study), more filler content (11% in this study), more temperature T is to be determined, it should follow the relation-
bitumen content (6.8% in this study) and weaker aggregate skele- ship at T 0 by shifting the results a certain horizontal distance, as
ton structures in hydraulic asphalt than pavement asphalt. When shown in Fig. 9.
the stresses are bigger than 30%-60% of the strength the aggregate Thus:
skeleton structures in the asphalt concrete become strong and the
Gðc_ ; T Þ ¼ F ðlog c_ ; T Þ; Gðc_ ; T 0 Þ ¼ F ðlogc_ ; T 0 Þ ð2Þ
stress–strain relationships present nonlinear and are affected by
the magnitude of confining stress. where;
As the stress–strain relationship presents approximately linear
relationship below 50% of the peak shear stress and the secant G = secant shear modulus up to 1.0% shear strain, MPa;
shear modulus up to 1.0% of shear strain was calculated. The peak c_ = shear strain rate, 1/s or s1;
shear stress and the shear strain at the peak stress are taken as the T = temperature, °C;
shear strength and the shear strain at failure, respectively. The T 0 = standard temperature, 10 °C in this study.
shear modulus G, the shear strength sf and the shear strain at fail- FðTÞ is expressed as the translated (shifted) horizontal distance
ure ef are used as the asphalt behavior indicators in the following along the log c_ axis, then;
analysis.
Fðlog c_ þ FðTÞ; T 0 Þ ¼ Fðlog c_ ; TÞ ð3Þ
FðTÞ satisfies the following conditions:
dF
FðT 0 Þ ¼ 0; <0 ð4Þ
dT
Taking
FðTÞ ¼ log /ðTÞ ð5Þ
Then /ðTÞ satisfies the following conditions:
d/
/ðT 0 Þ ¼ 1; /ðTÞ > 0; >0 ð6Þ
dT
Combine Eq. (5) with Eq. (2), then:
Fðlog n; T 0 Þ ¼ Fðlog c_ ; TÞ; log n ¼ log c_ þ log /ðTÞ ð7Þ
Eq. (7) indicates that if c_ is changed as n ¼ c_ /ðTÞ, the G curve at
the standard temperature T 0 can be used to calculate the shear
modulus at temperature T. n is called the ‘‘reduced shear strain
rate” in this study.
The results in Fig. 8 show that the shear modulus increases
roughly linearly with the increase of shear strain rate in the log-
Fig. 5. Typical asphalt specimen after testing. log scale coordinate system. A regression of the shear modulus
 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022 5

Fig. 6. Shear stress versus shear strain for specimens tested at the shear angle of 45° at different shear strain rates and at different temperatures (see Table 2). (a) 10 °C, (b)
20 °C, (c) 30 °C.

Fig. 7. Shear stress versus shear strain for specimens tested at the shear angle of 60° at different shear strain rates and at different temperatures (see Table 2). (a) 10 °C, (b)
20 °C, (c) 30 °C.
6 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022

Fig. 8. Shear modulus versus shear strain rate for specimens tested at different
shear angles, temperatures and shear strain rates.
Through the shift function Eq. (9) the standard shear modulus
master curves at 10 °C can be constructed for shear angles of 45°
and 60° as shown in Fig. 11 and by Eqs. (10) and (11).
For shear angle 45°,
log G ¼ 0:4064 log n þ 2:3918 ð10Þ
For shear angle 60°,
log G ¼ 0:4346 log n þ 2:2690 ð11Þ
Eq. (9) is used for Eqs. (10) and (11), for shear angle 45°,
log G ¼ 0:4064ðlog c_  0:104T þ 1:04Þ þ 2:3918 ð12Þ
For shear angle 60°,
log G ¼ 0:4346ðlog c_  0:104T þ 1:04Þ þ 2:2690 ð13Þ
Thus, the shear modulus can be determined from Eqs. (12) and
(13) for a given shear strain rate, temperature and at either of the
shear angles of 45° or 60°. Comparisons of shear modulus values
obtained from the test results and the calculated ones are given
in Table 3.
Table 3 shows that the calculated shear modulus values from
the regression equations applying the time–temperature superpo-
sition principle are in reasonable agreement with the test results.
The equations can therefore be used for situations when test
results are not available. When the strain rate is increased from
104/s to 3  102/s, the shear modulus increased about 10 times.
When the temperature is increased from 5 °C to 30 °C, the shear
modulus is reduced by a factor of about 12.

4.2. Shear strength

Fig. 9. Schematic diagram of time-temperature superposition principle.
data shows that the shift function log / and temperature present a
linear relation, and the test results at shear angles of 45° and 60°
follow the same shift function log /, as shown in Fig. 10 and by
Eq. (8).
log /ðT Þ ¼ 0:104ðT  T 0 Þ
When T0 = 10 °C
log /ðT Þ ¼ 0:104T þ 1:04
All the shear strength values (sf ) are measured as the peak
stress values in Figs. 6 and 7 and are shown in Fig. 12.
As shown by the test results for the shear modulus in Sec-
tion 4.1, Fig. 12 shows that the shear strength increases roughly
linearly with the increase of shear strain rate in the log–log scale
coordinate system. When the same shift function log / (Eq. (9))
is used, the standard shear strength master curves at 10 °C can
be constructed for shear angles of 45° and 60° and are shown in
Fig. 13 and by Eqs. (14) and (15). The standard shear strength mas-
ter curves follow the same shift function log / (Eq. (9)) as for the
standard shear modulus master curves in Fig. 11.
ð8Þ For shear angle 45°,
log sf ¼ 0:2753 log n þ 0:9166 ð14Þ
ð9Þ For shear angle 60°,

Fig. 10. Relation of shift function log / and temperature at shear angles of 45° and Fig. 11. Standard shear modulus master curves at 10 °C for shear angles of 45° and
60°. 60°, respectively.
 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022 7

Table 3
Comparisons of shear modulus values from the test results and the calculated ones (MPa).

Shear angle T (°C) Shear strain rate (s1)

0.0001 0.0005 0.005 0.01 0.03
45° 5 9.5a 18.3a 46.6a 61.7a 96.4a
10 5.8/5.3b 11.2/13.2 28.6a 37.9a 59.3a
20 2.2/2.6 4.2/3.9 10.8/11.7 14.3/13.2 22.4/29.1
30 0.8/1.1 1.6/1.3 4.1/3.5 5.4/4.4 8.5/8.8
60° 5 5.7a 11.5a 31.3a 42.2a 68.1a
10 3.4/4.8 6.8/7.0 18.6/16.5 25.1a 40.5a
20 1.2/1.0 2.4/2.0 6.7/8.1 8.9/9.5 14.3/16.1
30 0.4/0.4 0.9/0.8 2.3/2.4 3.1/2.9 5.1/5.4
a
Calculated value.
b
The calculated value is put on the left side of the slant line, and the average of the three values obtained from Figs. 6 and 7 is put on the right side of the slant line.

Table 4 shows that the calculated strength values from the

regression equations applying the time–temperature superposition
principle are in reasonable agreement with the test results. The
equations can therefore be used for situations when test results
are not available. When the strain rate is increased from 104/s
to 3  102/s, the shear strength increased about 5 times. When
the temperature is increased from 5 °C to 30 °C, the shear strength
is reduced by a factor of about 6.

4.3. Calculated cohesive and frictional shear strength components

At a given temperature and shear strain rate the shear strength

Fig. 12. Shear strength versus shear strain rate for specimens tested at different
shear angles, temperatures and shear strain rates.
may be considered to consist of two components, cohesive resis-
tance and frictional resistance. This is similar to the Mohr-
Coulomb approach used in soil mechanics. Therefore, based on
the terms defined in Fig. 3, one may develop the following relation-
ship [23]:
cS þ fP f cosa ¼ P f sina

Pf cosa P f sina
cþf ¼ ¼ sf ð18Þ
S S

c ¼ sf ð1  f cotaÞ ð19Þ

c = cohesive shear strength component of asphalt concrete,

MPa;
S = shear area of specimen, 10,000 mm2 in this study;
f = friction coefficient;
Pf = vertical force at failure, N;
a = shear angle, 45° or 60° in this study.

Based on the average shear strength (sf ) obtained from Figs. 6

Fig. 13. Standard shear strength master curves at 10 °C for shear angles of 45° and
60°, respectively.
log sf ¼ 0:318 log n þ 0:9272
Eq. (9) is used for Eqs. (14) and (15), for shear angle 45°,
log sf ¼ 0:2753ðlog c_  0:104T þ 1:04Þ þ 0:9166
For shear angle 60°,
log sf ¼ 0:318ðlog c_  0:104T þ 1:04Þ þ 0:9272
Thus, the strength can be determined from Eqs. (16) and (17) for
a given shear strain rate, temperature and at either of the shear
angles of 45° or 60°. Comparisons of shear strength values obtained
from the test results and the calculated ones are given in Table 4.
and 7 for each of the two shear angles of 45° and 60° at the same
temperature and shear strain rate, the cohesive shear strength and
the friction coefficient may be derived from Eq. (19) and are shown
in Table 5.
Fig. 14a shows the friction coefficient versus temperature at dif-
ferent strain rates, and Fig. 14b shows the friction coefficient as
ð15Þ function of strain rate at 20 °C and 30 °C. The friction coefficient
increases with temperature at each of the specified shear strain
rates. There is only one exception which seems to be an ‘‘outlier”
at 10 °C and shear strain rate of 0.0005 s1 in Fig. 14a. Fig. 14b
ð16Þ shows that the friction coefficient increases slightly with strain
rate at 20 °C but decreases at 30 °C. At 20 °C the friction coefficients
are in a range of 0.22 to 0.49 with an average value of 0.4, and at
30 °C in a range of 0.53 to 0.73 with an average value of 0.6. From
ð17Þ
the trend of friction coefficients with temperature shown in
Fig. 14a the average friction coefficient at 10 °C could be about 0.3.
The calculated average cohesive shear strength components for
different temperature and shear strain rate conditions are shown
in Fig. 15.
8 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022

Table 4
Comparisons of shear strength values from the test results and the calculated ones (MPa).

Shear angle T (°C) Shear strain rate (s1)

0.0001 0.0005 0.005 0.01 0.03
45° 5 0.91a 1.42a 2.67a 3.23a 4.37a
10 0.65/0.72b 1.02/1.26 1.92a 2.32a 3.14a
20 0.34/0.29 0.53/0.39 0.99/0.92 1.20/1.20 1.63/1.90
30 0.17/0.22 0.27/0.27 0.51/0.50 0.62/0.59 0.84/0.85
60° 5 0.66a 1.10a 2.30a 2.86a 4.06a
10 0.45/0.57 0.75/0.85 1.57/1.52 1.96a 2.77a
20 0.21/0.22 0.35/0.33 0.73/0.82 0.91/0.86 1.29/1.35
30 0.10/0.10 0.16/0.15 0.34/0.34 0.43/0.38 0.60/0.54
a
Calculated value.
b
The calculated value is put on the left side of the slant line, and the average of the three values obtained from Figs. 6 and 7 is put on the right side of the slant line.

Table 5
Calculated cohesive shear strength and friction coefficient at a given temperature and
shear strain rate.

Temperature (°C) Shear strain Friction Cohesive shear

rate (1/s) coefficient, f strength, c(MPa)

10 0.0001 0.38 0.45

0.0005 0.53 0.59
20 0.0001 0.44 0.16
0.0005 0.30 0.27
0.005 0.22 0.72
0.01 0.48 0.62
0.03 0.49 0.97
30 0.0001 0.73 0.06
0.0005 0.65 0.09
0.005 0.53 0.23
0.01 0.56 0.26
0.03 0.58 0.36

When the shift function Eq. (9) is used, the standard calculated
cohesive shear strength master curve at 10 °C can be constructed
and is shown in Fig. 16 and by Eqs. (20) and (21).

log c ¼ 0:3454 log n þ 0:8942 ð20Þ

log c ¼ 0:3454ðlog c_  0:104T þ 1:04Þ þ 0:8942 ð21Þ

Thus, cohesive shear strength can be determined from Eq. (21)
for a given temperature and shear strain rate condition. Typical
values are shown in Table 6.
The shear tests were carried out without applying confining
stress but at two different shear angles of 45° and 60°. The cohesive
shear strength and friction coefficient are obtained from the test
results. The shear strength at a given magnitude of confining stress
and for a given temperature and shear strain rate condition can be
Fig. 14. Calculated friction coefficient versus (a) temperature at different shear
calculated by applying the Mohr-Coulomb approach.
strain rates and (b) strain rate at temperatures of 20 °C and 30 °C (Table 5).

4.4. Shear strain at failure

All the shear strains at failure are measured from Figs. 6 and 7
and are shown in Fig. 17.
Fig. 17 shows that the measured shear strains at failure present
some scatter, but are only little affected by the magnitude of shear
angle a. The shear strains at failure clearly decrease with an
increase in shear strain rate. The shear strains at failure are slightly
increased with an increase in temperature and are about 16% at
10 °C and 20 °C and about 20% at 30 °C.
5. Asphalt concrete behavior for different loading conditions
When used as impervious core in embankment dams, asphalt
concrete has to accommodate the dam deformations at different
loading conditions without cracking. The temperature in the
asphalt core during dam operation is commonly between 5 °C
and 20 °C. The strain rate due to earthquake shaking may be in
the range 104/s–102/s [18].
In this experimental study, asphalt concrete specimens were
subjected to shear with monotonic loading at different tempera-
tures and shear strain rates. The shear modulus and shear strength
domains for various situations are obtained by applying the time–
temperature superposition principle. Tables 7a, b, c show typical
shear modulus, shear strength and cohesive shear strength values
for the different loading conditions for the asphalt concrete mix
used in this study.
Table 7a shows that the shear modulus is significantly affected
by the strain rate and temperature. When the strain rate is
increased by two orders of magnitude from 104/s to 102/s, the
shear modulus increased about 7 times. When the temperature is
 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022 9

Fig. 17. Shear strain at failure versus shear strain rate for specimens tested at
Fig. 15. Calculated average cohesive shear strength component versus shear strain different shear angles and temperatures.
rate for specimens tested at temperatures of 10 °C, 20 °C and 30 °C, respectively.

Table 7a
Typical shear modulus values (MPa) for different temperatures and strain rates.

Shear Strain Rate (1/s) Temperature (°C)

5 10 15 20
0.0001 9.5 5.8 3.6 2.2
0.001 15.2 9.0 5.4 3.2
0.01 61.7 37.9 23.3 14.3

Table 7b
Typical shear strength values (MPa) for different temperatures and strain rates.

Shear strain rate (1/s) Temperature (°C)

5 10 15 20
0.0001 0.91 0.65 0.47 0.34
0.001 1.71 1.23 0.89 0.64
0.01 3.23 2.32 1.67 1.20
Fig. 16. Calculated standard cohesive shear strength master curve at 10 °C.

Table 7c
Table 6
Typical cohesive shear strength values (MPa) for different temperatures and strain
Typical calculated cohesive shear strength (MPa).
rates.
T (°C) Shear strain rate (1/s)
Shear strain rate (1/s) Temperature (°C)
0.0001 0.0005 0.005 0.01 0.03
5 10 15 20
5 0.49 0.86 1.90 2.42 3.53
0.0001 0.49 0.33 0.22 0.14
10 0.33 0.57 1.26 1.60 2.33
0.001 1.09 0.72 0.48 0.32
20 0.14 0.25 0.55 0.70 1.02
0.01 2.42 1.60 1.06 0.71
30 0.06 0.11 0.24 0.31 0.45

increased from 5 °C to 20 °C, the shear modulus is reduced by a fac-
tor of about 4. The shear modulus is 61.7 MPa at the shear strain
rate of 102/s and 5 °C, and only 2.2 MPa at 104/s and 20 °C.
Table 7b shows that the shear strength is also significantly
affected by the strain rate and temperature. When the strain rate
is increased from 104/s to 102/s, the shear strength increased
about 3.5 times. When the temperature is increased from 5 °C to
20 °C the shear strength is reduced by a factor of about 3. The shear
strength is 3.23 MPa at the shear strain rate of 102/s and 5 °C, and
only 0.34 MPa at 104/s and 20 °C.
Table 7c shows that the cohesive shear strength is significantly
affected by the strain rate and temperature. When the strain rate is
increased from 104/s to 102/s, the cohesive shear strength
increased by a factor of 5. When the temperature is increased from
5 °C to 20 °C, the cohesive shear strength is reduced by about a fac-
tor of about 3.5. The cohesive shear strength is 2.42 MPa at the
shear strain rate of 102/s and 5 °C, and only 0.14 MPa at 104/s
and 20 °C.
6. Summary and conclusions
A slant shear apparatus was developed to test specimens with
dimensions of 100  100  60 mm3. Twenty-five (25) tests with
monotonic loading at three different temperatures, five different
shear strain rates and two different shear angles were carried
out. The test results were analyzed by applying the time–temper-
ature superposition principle to check the validity of the principle
for hydraulic asphalt concrete. Shear modulus and shear strength
values for asphalt concrete at various situations were summarized
and compared. The following findings and conclusions are
provided:

Shear test results have confirmed that the shear modulus and
shear strength values follow the time–temperature superposi-
tion principle. Values of shear modulus and shear strength are
presented for the temperature range of 5–30 °C and the shear
strain rate range of 106–101/s.
10 W. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117022

The shear strength of asphalt concrete may be considered to
consist of a cohesive and a frictional strength component. The
friction coefficients are about 0.3 at 10 °C, about 0.4 at 20 °C,
and about 0.6 at 30 °C, respectively.

The temperature in the asphalt core in embankment dams dur-
ing dam operation is commonly between 5 °C and 20 °C. The
shear modulus and shear strength at the shear strain rate of
102/s are about 7 and 3.5 times, respectively, higher than those
at 104/s. Similarly, the shear modulus and shear strength at
5 °C are about 4 and 3 times, respectively, higher than those
at 20 °C. The shear modulus and shear strength at 102/s and
5 °C are 61.7 and 3.23 MPa, respectively, and at 104/s and
20 °C are 2.2 and 0.34 MPa, respectively.

The shear strain at failure is not significantly affected by the
shear angles in the slant shear apparatus in the range of 10–
30 °C, but slightly affected by the magnitude of shear strain
rates and temperatures. The shear strain at failure is 15%-25%
at a shear strain rate of 104 /s and 10%-20% at 102/s. The shear
strains at failure are about 16% at 10 °C and 20 °C and about 20%
at 30 °C.
The obtained values for shear modulus and shear strength for
different temperatures and strain rates are useful references in
the design of the asphalt core in embankment dams. However,
the numerical values reported herein are determined for the
asphalt concrete mix used in the present study. The specific values
to be used in design analyses for a given project depend on the
asphalt concrete mix, the materials, and especially the bitumen
type (grade) and content.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgment
The research work for the paper was partly supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51179155).
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