LAUSR

This paper reports on a newly proposed methodology for characterizing asphalt concrete (AC) mixtures with the Overlay Tester (OT). The methodology considers two stages of cracking (i.e., crack initiation and crack propagation). The crack initiation is represented by the critical fracture energy (CFE) parameter obtained from the load displacement curve of the first loading cycle, while the crack propagation is represented by the crack progression rate (CPR) parameter. A design interaction plot of these two parameters is proposed for evaluating and assessing the cracking resistance of AC mixtures. More than 250 OT results from ten different AC mix types were used to set the preliminary acceptance limits for the CFE and CPR parameters. Preliminary implementation suggests that the proposed OT test method is a promising tool for the evaluation of the cracking resistance of AC mixtures.