The paper presents various investigations conducted for evaluation of the performance of polymer combined Vacuum Tower Bottom (VTB) modified asphalt mixes by comparison with different modified mixes in the laboratory scale. In order to verify the possibility of polymer combined VTB as a modifier in the asphalt binder, one base unmodified binder and two different types of modified asphalt binders well known for their good performance in the field were compared in the laboratory scale by rheological performance tests. Frequency Sweep Test (FST) and Multi Stressed Creep and Recovery (MSCR) test with DSR (Dynamic Shear Rheometer) were performed and confirmed its good performance. Secondly, various performance tests were adopted for various modified asphalt mixtures with same aggregate gradation and asphalt binder content. As to evaluate the overall performance, crack resistance and durability of dense graded mixtures, Dynamic modulus tests, Semi Circular Bending (SCB) tests and Cantabro tests were conducted for different types of mixes, respectively. Variance tests and analysis concluded several results. In the case of binder, the polymer combined VTB modifier is the primary affecting factor in performance upgrade when comparing with other binder types including base binder. The modified effects on mixtures were clearly shown in all performance tests although performance ranking out of various test types were different. Dynamic modulus are higher at low temperature and high reduced frequency while smaller modification effects in high temperature and lower reduced frequency. According to SCB test results, fracture resistance could be better than other mix types while durability of them are relatively lower. It can be concluded that polymer base VTB modifier can be act as a good modifier with increasing stiffness and fracture energy from test results. However, there are a couple of concerns remained in terms of performance verification of modifier. Therefore it is required to conduct performance simulation with MEPDG and field verification test and monitoring performance.

OBJECTIVES: Bituminous materials, such as tack coat, are utilized between pavement layers for improving the bond strength in pavement construction sites. The standards regarding the application of bituminous material are not clearly presented in the Korean construction guideline without RS(C)-4. Hence, the objective of this study is to determine the optimum content of bituminous materials by analyzing interlayer shear strength (ISS) from the direct shear tester, which was developed in this research. The shear strength of tack coat was defined with the sort of bituminous materials. METHODS : The mixtures for the shear test were made using marshall mix design. The specimens were vertically and horizontally separated for the direct shear test. The separated specimens were bonded using bituminous material. The objectives of the experiment are to determine the performance of bond and shear properties resulting from slippage, rutting, shovel, and corrugation of asphalt pavements. A machine based on the Louisiana interlayer shear strength tester (LISST) of NCHRP Report-712 was developed to determine the ISS. The applied types of tack coat were RS(C)-4, AP-3, QRS-4, and BD-coat with contents of 0.3ℓ/m2, 0.45ℓ/m2, 0.6ℓ/m2, and 0.8ℓ/m2, respectively. RESULTS: Table 2 gives the results of the direct shear test using the developed shear machine. The BD-coat type indicated the highest average ISS value compared to the others. Between the surface and binder course, optimum tack coat application rates for AP-3, RS(C)-4, QRS-4, and BD-Coat were 0.6ℓ/m2, 0.3ℓ/m2, 0.6ℓ/m2, and 0.45ℓ/m2, respectively. These optimum contents were determined using the ISS value. CONCLUSIONS: The ISS values of AP-3, RS(C)-4, and QRS-4 showed similar tendencies when ISS increased in the range 0.3~0.6ℓ/m2, while ISS decreased when the applied rate exceeded 0.6ℓ/m2. Similarly, the highest ISS value of the BD-coat was observed when the applied rate was 0.45 ℓ/m2. However, shear strength was similar to the maximum value of ISS when the tack-coat application rate of BD-Coat exceeded 0.45ℓ/m2.

OBJECTIVES : The objective of this research is to determine the integrity of pavement structures for areas where voids exist. Furthermore, we conducted the study of voided-area analysis and remaining life prediction for pavement structures using finite element method. METHODS : To determine the remaining life of the existing voided areas under asphalt concrete pavements, field and falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests were conducted. Comparison methods were used to have better accuracy in the finite element method (FEM) analysis compared to the measured surface displacements due to the loaded trucks. In addition, the modeled FEM used in this study was compared with well-known software programs. RESULTS : The results show that a good agreement on the analyzed and measured displacements can be obtained through comparisons of the surface displacement due to loaded trucks. Furthermore, the modeled FEM program was compared with the available pavement-structure software programs, resulting in the same values of tensile strains in terms of the thickness of asphalt concrete layers. CONCLUSIONS: The study, which is related to voided-area analysis and remaining life prediction using FEM for pavement structures, was successfully conducted based on the comparison between our methods and the sinkhole grade used in Japan.

OBJECTIVES : The objective of this research is to determine the moisture resistance of the freeze-thaw process occurring in low-noise porous pavement using either hydrated-lime or anti-freezing agent. Various additives were applied to low-noise porous asphalt, which is actively paved in South Korea, to overcome its disadvantages. Moreover, the optimum contents of hydrated-lime and anti-freezing agent and behavior properties of low-noise porous asphalt layer are determined using dynamic moduli via the freeze-thaw test. METHODS: The low-noise porous asphalt mixtures were made using gyratory compacters to investigate its properties with either hydratedlime or anti-freezing agent. To determine the dynamic moduli of each mixture, impact resonance test was conducted. The applied standard for the freeze-thaw test of asphalt mixture is ASTM D 6857. The freeze-thaw and impact resonance tests were performed twice at each stage. The behavior properties were defined using finite element method, which was performed using the dynamic modulus data obtained from the freezethaw test and resonance frequencies obtained from non-destructive impact test. RESULTS: The results show that the coherence and strength of the low-noise porous asphalt mixture decreased continuously with the increase in the temperature of the mixture. The dynamic modulus of the normal low-noise porous asphalt mixture dramatically decreased after one cycle of freezing and thawing stages, which is more than that of other mixtures containing additives. The damage rate was higher when the freeze-thaw test was repeated. CONCLUSIONS : From the root mean squared error (RMSE) and mean percentage error (MPE) analyses, the addition rates of 1.5% hydrated-lime and 0.5% anti-freezing agent resulted in the strongest mixture having the highest moisture resistance compared to other specimens with each additive in 1 cycle freeze-thaw test. Moreover, the freeze-thaw resistance significantly improved when a hydrated-lime content of 0.5% was applied for the two cycles of the freeze-thaw test. Hence, the optimum contents of both hydrated-lime and anti-freezing agent are 0.5%.

PURPOSES : The hydrated lime-modified asphalt, which improves moisture resistance, is normally used for pavements to reduce the number of potholes. However, the method of applying the material properties of the lime-modified asphalt mixture for use in pavements is not covered in the Korean Pavement Research Program (KPRP). The objective of this research is to find a method for the design application of lime-modified asphalt’s material properties to the KPRP. METHODS: The section for test design is selected in some conditions which are related to the level of design regarding Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT). To define the application methods of hydrated lime in the KPRP, the models of fatigue, rut and international roughness index (IRI) are determined based on the M-EPDG test results from some earlier research results. Moreover, it is well known that dynamic moduli of the unmodified mixture are not different from those of the lime-modified mixture. RESULTS: The performance results of hydrated lime-modified asphalt pavement were not very much different from those of the unmodified pavement, which meant the limited design regulations regarding fatigue failure, rutting deformation and IRI. CONCLUSIONS: The KPRP uses the weather model from the data for previous 10 years. It implies that the KPRP cannot predict abnormal climate changes accurately. Hence, the predictive weather data regarding the abnormal climate changes are unreliable. Secondly, the KPRP cannot apply the moisture resistance of asphalt mixtures. Therefore, a second level of design study will have to be performed to reflect the influence of moisture. It means that the influence on pavement performance can be changed by the application of hydrated lime in asphalt mixture design.