Parameter prediction of rheological models for hydraulic asphalt concrete using time-temperature superposition principle

To further investigate the creep performance of hydraulic asphalt concrete, this study conducted flexural creep tests across varied temperatures and load levels (relative to flexural strength), obtaining creep strain curves, creep compliance profiles, and failure modes. Through the Burgers model applied to creep compliance data, we extracted key viscoelastic parameters. Leveraging polymer-inspired time-temperature superposition principles and our optimized Williams-Landel-Ferry(WLF) equation, time-temperature shift factors enabled predictions of low-temperature creep compliance curves and model parameters from high-temperature data. Critically, predicted transition points between creep stages closely matched experimental data, with relatively ideal precision for the first two stages. Taking the 15°C temperature difference prediction interval with the largest average error as an example, its maximum average error reached 18.4%, with parameter errors of E 1 : 7.0%, E 2 : 13.7%, η 1 : -10.1%, η 2 : -6.1%. For other predicted temperature differences, the average error all remained below 20%. In addition, upon calculation, the correlation coefficient R 2 between the predicted values and the experimental values at different temperature ranges are all greater than 0.80. For the long-term performance prediction of heterogeneous materials like hydraulic asphalt concrete, although the mean error and correlation coefficient are not near-ideal, the model successfully captures the main trends of data variation in the first two most important stages of creep, validating this method’s applicability for forecasting asphalt concrete creep performance, which has important engineering guiding value. • The creep failure mode of hydraulic asphalt concrete under different temperatures and loads is discussed. • Based on the principle of time-temperature equivalence, the WLF equation is optimized and improved to better describe the time-temperature effect of asphalt concrete materials • The creep flexibility curve and material related parameters at different temperatures were predicted