A New Design Methodology of Asphalt Mixture Dynamic Modulus Based on Pavement Response

The design of asphalt mixture has, for a long time, been an empirical and proof process, causing the mismatch between material design and pavement structure design. To enhance the rationality of asphalt pavement design, this study seeks a path to bridge the gap between asphalt mixture modulus and structural behavior. Firstly, pavement models with different base rigidities, including cement concrete base, cement-treated granular base, and granular base, were constructed to calculate the pavement responses under different dynamic modulus master curve parameters. The influence of master curve parameters on critical pavement responses was identified by the response surface method (RSM). Furthermore, a Whale Optimization Algorithm-Back Propagation (WOA-BP) artificial-neural-network-based pavement response prediction model was established. Then, a database mapping over 100 thousand pavement responses and dynamic modulus master curve parameters was built for determining the dynamic modulus master curve parameters by optimizing the pavement responses. The results show that the impacts of dynamic modulus master curve parameters on critical pavement responses depend on pavement structures. In general, parameter <i>δ</i> has the greatest impact, followed by <i>α</i>, while the effects of <i>β</i> and <i>γ</i> are relatively small. The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) performance prediction model, optimized by the WOA algorithm, has a high accuracy. The methodology for determining the dynamic modulus master curve parameter based on the critical response of pavement was successfully implemented. The findings can bridge the gap between material design and structure design of asphalt pavement and provide a basis for more accurate and reasonable asphalt pavement design.