Expanded polystyrene (EPS) in road construction: Twenty years of Italian experiences

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Characterization of Reinforced Asphalt Pavement Cracking Behavior using Flexural Analysis

This paper focuses on performance assessment and size effect evaluation on flexural fracture tests performed on two-layered reinforced asphalt specimens. A steel net and three fiber-glass grids were investigated. Three Point Bending tests were performed on 60mm tall specimens composed by both leveling (20mm) and wearing (40mm) layers. The test was performed on two differently-shaped specimens (400x100 mm beams and a 500x500 mm slabs) on both reinforced and not reinforced samples. Strain localization and damage distribution were investigated using an in-house Digital Image Correlation (DIC) System capable of achieving highly accurate 2D full-field strain maps of the specimens during loading

Effect of fillers and their fractional voids on fundamental fracture properties of asphalt mixtures and mastics

A laboratory investigation was performed to evaluate the influence of filler type and Rigden fractional voids on fundamental fracture limits of asphalt mixtures and mastics. Fracture properties of 14 different asphalt mixtures and mastics composed by the combination of 7 different fillers and 2 asphalt binders were evaluated using: a visco-elastic fracture mechanics-based crack growth law for mixtures; the Bending Beam rheometer for mastics at low temperatures and a Modified Direct Tension Test for mastics at intermediate temperatures. A Digital Image Correlation System was employed to detect strain distribution and damage evolution in mastics. Experimental results indicate that the filler type and Rigden fractional voids affect the fracture limits and the definition of strain distribution and damage evolution of both mixtures and mastics, while other properties result more dependent on the physio-chemical interaction between filler and asphalt binder