PAVEMENT DESIGN INCORPORATING POLYMER-MODIFIED ASPHALT USING VARIOUS LABORATORY FATIGUE TESTS

Recently, there has been growing interest in pavements constructed with polymer-modified asphalt, largely driven by the significant increase in traffic volumes and loads.This study aims to improve the understanding of polymer-modified asphalt's detailed mechanical behaviour and to support the development of reliable pavement designs that incorporate it.This study employed styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS), including one hard and one soft variant, to modify asphalt binders used in two distinct types of mixtures.A series of laboratory fatigue tests -including the beam wheel tracker fatigue test (BWTFT), 4-point bending test (4PBT), and indirect tensile fatigue test (ITFT) -were conducted, covering both unmodified and polymer-modified asphalt materials under various testing conditions.The findings indicate that data from the beam wheel tracker fatigue test can provide a way forward in pavement design, enabling the application of standard laboratory fatigue tests with a shift factor.Furthermore, the laboratory results suggest that polymer-modified asphalt pavements can be designed similarly to conventional asphalt pavements, but with an adjusted fatigue characteristic.This shift can be derived from data obtained through the BWTFT, 4PBT, or ITFT.