Test Method to Evaluate the Tensile Performance of Hyperelastic Binders with Large Deformation

Airport pavements, especially runway holding positions, are susceptible to high shear forces and thus rutting damages under the coupling effect of heavy aircraft loads and high temperatures. Pavements produced with commonly used asphalt binders have not been able to overcome rutting distress due to their thermoplastic nature, especially in summer. In this study, a newly developed hyperelastic binder, which is temperature independent after curing, was attempted to replace asphalt binder for pavement construction. However, the tensile properties of this hyperelastic binder cannot be properly determined due to its strong hyperelasticity using conventional direct tensile tests. In this research, a new direct tensile test method for hyperelastic binder was developed, and fracture energy density was used as a parameter for the tensile performance evaluation. Finite-element modeling results showed that the newly developed test can cause a high stress concentration in the middle part of the specimen to accelerate the fracture of testing specimens. The fracture energy density obtained from this test method was found to have great precision and accuracy, which indicates that this test method can serve as a candidate of the tensile property evaluation for hyperelastic materials.