Simple Performance Tests: Summary of Recommended Methods and Database (2006)

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T R A N S P O R T A T I O N R E S E A R C H B O A R D WASHINGTON, D.C. 2005 www.TRB.org NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP REPORT 547 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration SUBJECT AREAS Pavement Design, Management, and Performance Simple Performance Tests: Summary of Recommended Methods and Database MATTHEW WITCZAK Arizona State University Tempe, AZ

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administrators and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in cooperation with their state universities and others. However, the accelerating growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Association and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies was requested by the Association to administer the research program because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communications and cooperation with federal, state and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objectivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. Note: The Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, the National Research Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the individual states participating in the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of this report. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America NCHRP REPORT 547 Project 9-19 ISSN 0077-5614 ISBN 0-309-08843-7 Library of Congress Control Number 2005935134 © 2005 Transportation Research Board Price $28.00 NOTICE The project that is the subject of this report was a part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program conducted by the Transportation Research Board with the approval of the Governing Board of the National Research Council. Such approval reflects the Governing Board’s judgment that the program concerned is of national importance and appropriate with respect to both the purposes and resources of the National Research Council. The members of the technical committee selected to monitor this project and to review this report were chosen for recognized scholarly competence and with due consideration for the balance of disciplines appropriate to the project. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied are those of the research agency that performed the research, and, while they have been accepted as appropriate by the technical committee, they are not necessarily those of the Transportation Research Board, the National Research Council, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, or the Federal Highway Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation. Each report is reviewed and accepted for publication by the technical committee according to procedures established and monitored by the Transportation Research Board Executive Committee and the Governing Board of the National Research Council.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished schol- ars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. On the authority of the charter granted to it by the Congress in 1863, the Academy has a mandate that requires it to advise the federal government on scientific and techni- cal matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy of Sciences. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National Acad- emy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its administration and in the selection of its members, sharing with the National Academy of Sciences the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research, and recognizes the superior achieve- ments of engineers. Dr. William A. Wulf is president of the National Academy of Engineering. The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, on its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg is president of the Institute of Medicine. The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to associate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies determined by the Acad- emy, the Council has become the principal operating agency of both the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in providing services to the government, the public, and the scientific and engineering communities. The Council is administered jointly by both the Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. William A. Wulf are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council. The Transportation Research Board is a division of the National Research Council, which serves the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. The Board’s mission is to promote innovation and progress in transportation through research. In an objective and interdisciplinary setting, the Board facilitates the sharing of information on transportation practice and policy by researchers and practitioners; stimulates research and offers research management services that promote technical excellence; provides expert advice on transportation policy and programs; and disseminates research results broadly and encourages their implementation. The Board’s varied activities annually engage more than 5,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. www.TRB.org www.national-academies.org

COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS STAFF FOR NCHRP REPORT 547 ROBERT J. REILLY, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CRAWFORD F. JENCKS, Manager, NCHRP EDWARD T. HARRIGAN, Senior Program Officer EILEEN P. DELANEY, Director of Publications HILARY FREER, Senior Editor NATALIE BARNES, Editor NCHRP PROJECT 9-19 PANEL Field of Materials and Construction—Area of Bituminous Materials LARRY A. SCOFIELD, American Concrete Pavement Association, Mesa, AZ (Chair) HUSSAIN BAHIA, University of Wisconsin–Madison LUIS JULIAN BENDANA, New York State DOT E. RAY BROWN, National Center for Asphalt Technology DALE S. DECKER, Bailey, CO JON A. EPPS, Granite Construction Inc., Sparks, NV ERIC E. HARM, Illinois DOT DALLAS N. LITTLE, Texas A&M University, Texas Transportation Institute CARL L. MONISMITH, University of California–Berkeley JAMES A. MUSSELMAN, Florida DOT LINDA M. PIERCE, Washington State DOT JOHN BUKOWSKI, FHWA Liaison THOMAS HARMAN, FHWA Liaison LESLIE ANN MYERS, FHWA Liaison LARRY L. MICHAEL, Maryland State Highway Administration Liaison FREDERICK HEJL, TRB Liaison

This report summarizes key information on three recommended simple performance tests for permanent deformation of hot mix asphalt (HMA). In the final phase of the work described here, and as described in two companion reports to be published later, the candi- date tests for permanent deformation were validated with field performance data, and spec- ifications for their use were developed. The report will be of particular interest to materials engineers in state highway agencies, as well as to materials suppliers and paving contrac- tor personnel responsible for designing and producing HMA. A key objective of NCHRP Project 9-19, “Superpave Support and Performance Models Management,” was to develop simple performance tests for permanent deformation and fatigue cracking for incorporation in the Superpave volumetric mix design method. The 2002 NCHRP Report 465: Simple Performance Test for Superpave Mix Design, summa- rized analytical and experimental work conducted between 1995 and 2001 at the Univer- sity of Maryland and Arizona State University to (1) survey the range of potential simple performance test methods and (2) select the most promising methods for a field validation program. The resulting field validation and specification development program were conducted between 2001 and 2005. Both plant mixes and laboratory-blended, short-term oven-aged mixes were tested in the field validation program. Mixtures from MnRoad, NCAT Test Track, Indiana, Nevada I-80, WesTrack, FHWA-ALF, and Arizona I-10 sites constituted the complete test matrix. The results of the validation program supported the selection of the dynamic modulus (E*), flow number (Fn), and flow time (Ft) tests as simple perfor- mance tests for permanent deformation of HMA mixes. The project findings summarized in this report were extensively reviewed with the research team by the NCHRP Project 9-19 panel. In 2004, the project panel formally rec- ommended the dynamic modulus test as the primary simple performance test for permanent deformation. The panel further recommended the flow number test as an optional, comple- mentary procedure for evaluating the resistance of an HMA mix design to tertiary flow. Subsequently, the research agency prepared a specification, in the form of a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, that determines a critical minimum E* value for HMA, which is based on project-specific information on climate, traffic, pavement structure, and layer depth. The specification is based on a series of pavement design examples pre-solved using the pave- ment design guide software from NCHRP Project 1-37A. The agency also developed guide- lines for using the flow number or flow time test to estimate the rutting potential of HMA mixes under specific project conditions. These detailed results, supported by the findings of the field validation program, will be presented in the two companion reports to this report. A fourth report will describe the use of the E* test to estimate the fatigue cracking poten- tial of HMA mixes. This report summarizes the theory behind the three validated tests and briefly describes the test methods. A set of appendices, included (in DVD format) as CRP-CD-46, contains: 1. All test data, mixture data, master curves, and master curve parameters obtained from the E* testing and analysis, FOREWORD By Edward T. Harrigan Staff Officer Transportation Research Board

2. All test and mixture data obtained from the Fn and Ft tests, including εp (permanent strain at flow), εr (recoverable strain at flow), εp/εr (from the Fn test), and compliance (from the Ft test), and 3. A collection of technical reports, theses and dissertations, and other relevant docu- ments prepared during the course of NCHRP Project 9-19 and its predecessor FHWA project to support the development of the simple performance tests.

1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction 2 CHAPTER 2 Theory 2.1 Dynamic Modulus (E*), 2 2.2 Flow Number (Fn), 3 2.3 Flow Time (Ft), 5 6 CHAPTER 3 Summary of Test Methods 3.1 Dynamic Modulus, 6 3.2 Flow Number and Flow Time, 6 8 CHAPTER 4 Organization of CRP-CD-46 CONTENTS