RUTTING IN FLEXIBLE PAVEMENTS

Asphalt pavement rutting is one of the most commonly observed pavement distresses and is a major safety concern to transportation agencies. Millions of dollars are spent annually to repair rutted asphalt pavements. Research into improvements of hot-mix asphalt materials, mix designs, and methods of pavement evaluation and design can provide extended pavement life and significant cost savings in pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. The three objectives of this work are to investigate the rutting behavior of asphalt mixes with different air void contents, to link these behaviors to an accelerated testing tool using a wheel track tester and to develop a finite element model based on creep model parameters.