Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Low-temperature performance of asphalt mixture based on statistical

analysis of winter temperature extremes: A case study of Harbin China
Zhiqi Sun a, Huining Xu a,⇑, Yiqiu Tan a,b,⇑, Huijie Lv a, Ogoubi Cyriaque Assogba a
a
School of Transportation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, China

h i g h l i g h t s

Capture appropriate models in the discussion of TNn, TN5d and CR.

TNn and TN5d extreme events influence on pavement temperature with depth.

Identify the low-temperature performance based on winter temperature extremes.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Winter temperature extremes are of major interest due to their potential damaging impacts related to
Received 10 November 2018 pavement temperature and thermal cracking. In the present paper, three climate indices are adopted
Received in revised form 16 February 2019 to describe the feature of winter temperature extremes. Statistical models for indices are analyzed based
Accepted 20 February 2019
on the observed data in Harbin. The threshold values with their 99.9% cumulative frequency are pro-
posed. Experiments were carried out in order to investigate the impacts of winter temperature extremes
on pavement temperature and low-temperature performance of asphalt mixture. The results show that
Keywords:
Weibull distribution is an appropriate model in the discussion of air temperature and its duration, and
Asphalt pavement
Winter temperature extremes
Frechet is the best-fitted model for the rate of air temperature change. Comparisons of experimental
Statistical model results indicate the importance of winter temperature extremes to asphalt pavement temperature. The
Temperature distribution characteristics influence of low-temperature properties by different temperature conditions is also analyzed. The low-
Low-temperature performance temperature performance in Harbin can be accurately quantified by linear interpolation.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction winter temperature extremes [2,3]. The increasing of extreme

The safety performance levels of most road infrastructures are
linked to the probability distribution of the climatic loads in ser-
vice. The damage of road infrastructures could be quantified by
statistical analysis of the probability distribution of extreme
weather events. In the case of roads, air temperature is one of
the most relevant climatic parameters, not only in describing the
climatic conditions at a given location but also in assessing the
potential influence of climate change on pavement [1]. Air temper-
ature is decisive for many road distresses depend on its duration,
peak value and rate of change. Recently, winter temperature
extremes are of major interest, mainly due to their potential dam-
aging impacts. Previous research indicates a possible amplification
of heat and mass transport process associated with an increase of
⇑ Corresponding authors at: School of Transportation Science and Engineering,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China (Y. Tan).
E-mail addresses: xuhn@hit.edu.cn (H. Xu), tanyiqiu@hit.edu.cn (Y. Tan).
weather events raised the probability of occurrence of events
inducing thermal cracking due to the sharp change of temperature
in pavement [4]. Therefore, understanding the impacts of winter
temperature extremes on asphalt pavement temperature is of high
priority to analyze the pavement performance caused by climate
change.
The statistics of winter temperature extremes is the basis of the
loading conditions of the low-temperature performance evaluation
method are determined. However, the statistics and the perfor-
mance evaluation are usually independently studied by most of
researchers. And the systematic statistical analysis of winter tem-
perature extremes is ignored. Some research on pavement temper-
ature has mostly focused on the inter-daily/annual variability and
the relationship with atmospheric temperature. Akiyama indicates
the relationship between asphalt pavement surface temperature
and atmospheric temperature follow exponential relation in sunny
days and linear relation in cloudy days, respectively [5]. Liu
pointed out surface temperature is related to air temperature

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.02.131
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268
and could be determined by the daily highest- and lowest air tem-
perature [6]. In addition, some researchers only focused on the
temperature distribution of pavement in depth. Southgate sug-
gested that the 5-day mean air temperature should be used as par-
tial inputs to determine the temperature at various depths within
the pavement profile [7]. Based on the average air temperature, Li
predicted the temperatures at various depths [8]. Duration of low
temperature and the cooling rate could influence temperature dis-
tribution at a depth of pavement structures [9,10]. Furthermore, in
order to enhance the safety performance of materials, many
research has studied the safety climate [11]. The characterization
of climate distribution is the basis of the safety climate. Therefore,
in order to completely understand the distribution characteristics
of winter temperature extremes, a statistical analysis technique
with proper statistical models is needed.
Meanwhile, asphalt mixtures at low temperature were charac-
terized by different experimental methods and numerical solutions
[12]. And the loading conditions of these methods haven’t been
perfectly determined by the statistics of winter temperature
extremes. Many experimental methods are carried out at set tem-
perature points. Davar used indirect tensile test at 5 °C to identify
tensile strength at low temperature [13]. Yang applied the three-
point bending experiments to research the fracture behavior of
asphalt mixture. But, the road infrastructures in service are subject
to a continuously changing temperature environment. In addition,
thermal contraction test and Thermal Stress Restrained Specimens
Test (TSRST) reproducible and universal access methods in the con-
tinuous temperature change methods [14]. The thermal contrac-
tion test is commonly used to determine the thermal-volumetric
behavior of asphalt mixtures for calculating the thermal stress in
numerical solution and controlling the development of the reliable
thermal stress, and TSRST can confirm the thermal cracking resis-
tance performance through characterizing the thermal cracking
with coupling the thermal mechanical effects [15]. And many stud-
ies recognize thermal stress and temperature at failure as crucial
parameters for evaluating the low-temperature performance of
asphalt mixtures [16,17]. Nevertheless, test conditions during
these research are not unified, especially the cooling rate
[15,16,18–20]. However, to quantify the effect of low-
temperature performance on the cooling rate, the evaluation
indexes are captured through thermal contraction test and TSRST.
And the test conditions are based on the statistical analysis of win-
ter temperature extremes.
All the above-mentioned discussion concludes that the distribu-
tion characteristics of winter temperature extremes still needs fur-
ther research. Moreover, it is not ensured that the low-temperature
performance of materials should meet the distribution levels of
winter temperature extremes. In that sense, the first goal of the
present study is to choose a statistical model for describing the dis-
tribution of extreme temperature indices based on observed data
and define threshold values for winter temperature extremes.
Then, the testing conditions of the evaluation method are
improved by the distribution of extreme temperature indices and
analyzing the impacts of winter temperature extremes on pave-
ment temperature. Finally, the low-temperature properties of
materials with winter temperature extremes in Harbin is
determined.
2. Study area and datasets
2.1. Study area
The studied area in this paper is applied to Harbin, China. Har-
bin is located in northern China, shown Fig. 1. As the prefecture is
rather large, its latitude ranges from 44°040 to 46°400 N, and the
259
Fig. 1. Map of Harbin, China.
longitude from 125°420 to 130°100 E. The main terrain of the city
is flat, with an average elevation of around 150 m. Under the
Köppen climate classification and continental polar air, Harbin fea-
tures a monsoon-influenced, humid continental climate with very
cold winters, and is known for its coldest weather and longest win-
ter among Chinese major cities.
Hourly observed air temperature data over the period 2001–
2011 is provided by Harbin meteorological station and contain less
than 2% missing values. Furthermore, the NOAA Satellite and Infor-
mation Service (NOAASIS) provided daily maximum/minimum
temperature over the period 1951–2012. Emphasis in this paper
is the winter extremes of temperature, and the data in the period
during Nov, 1st and Apr, 15th each year is selected to calculate
temperature extreme indices.
2.2. Data for asphalt pavement
To analyze impact of the winter temperature extremes on
asphalt pavement temperature distribution, measured data from
field large-scale asphalt pavement experiment performed in Har-
bin Institute of Technology are used.
A field asphalt pavement system has been built at Harbin Insti-
tute of Technology in 2008. Experimental data is collected to ana-
lyze impact of asphalt pavement temperature by the winter
temperature extremes. The design parameters of the pavement
structure for this system are list in Table 1.
Twenty-six embedded thermocouples of the pavement are
employed to measure the pavement temperature. The uncertain-
ties of the thermal couple are ±0.1 °C. Due to the nominal maxi-
mum size of aggregates of Asphalt Concrete (AC) on the surface
layer of pavement was 13.2 mm, the depth of 0.02 m is more than
13.2 mm to ensure that the thermocouples are excellently covered.
In order to obtain the various characteristics of the temperature
with the depth, it is selected to set the thermocouples in the mid-
dle or even more places in each layer. So the depth of thermocou-
ples is as follows: 0.02 m, 0.05 m and 0.10 m in the surface course;
0.20 m, 0.30 m and 0.40 m in the base course; 0.50 m, 0.60 m,
0.70 m, 0.90 m 1.30 m, 1.70 m and 2.10 m in the subgrade. The hor-
izontal distance between the two groups of thermocouples is
2.1 m. Additionally, a data recorder is used to collect all the data
in the twenty-minute interval from Oct 28, 2008.
Table 1
Design parameters for asphalt pavement system.
Structure layer Material Thickness/m
Surface course Asphalt concrete 0.10
Base course Cement stabilized crushed stone 0.30
Subgrade Clay —
260 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268

100 Table 3
Percent passing Winter temperature extremes indices.
Percent passing (%)

80 Index Indicator Name Definition Unit

60 TNn Min Tmin Coldest daily minimum temperature °C

40
20
0 ID
0.075 0.15 0.3 0.6 1.18 2.36 4.75 9.5 13.2 16
Sieve size (mm)
Fig. 2. Gradations of AC13.
Table 2
Basic performance of the bitumen binder.
Performance SBS modified asphalt binder
Penetration (25 °C, 100 g, 5 s, 0.1 mm) 84
Softening point (°C) 83
Ductility (5 cm/min, 5 °C, cm) 62
Viscosity (135 °C, pas) 2.017
Performance Grade (PG) 70–34
Fig. 2 shows the gradations of AC which mainly applied on the
surface layer of pavement [21,22]; the nominal maximum size of
aggregates was 13.2 mm. Table 2 provides the basic performance
of the bitumen binder, and those were examined using the stan-
dard test method from the Chinese technical specifications (JTG
E20-2011). The optimum asphalt content of the asphalt mixture
is determined to be 4.7%.
3. Methods
3.1. Analytical method of climate characteristics
3.1.1. Temperature extremes indices
In order to identify observed data in extreme events, the Expert
Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI) devel-
oped and selected 27 climate indices [23]. Considering the factors
that are closely related to the thermal cracking of asphalt pave-
ment, three of them are selected from the 27 climate indices rec-
ommended by the ETCCDI in this study (Table 3). These
temperature extremes indices are calculated from weather data
provided by NOAASIS and Harbin meteorological station and have
been developed to assess changes in intensity, rate of change, dura-
tion and frequency of climate extremes. TNn represents the lowest
temperature of the pavement material in service. TN5d indicates
the temperature of the pavement structure in depth. CR denotes
the thermal shock of the pavement structure in service and is the
basis for laboratory test conditions. TNn and TN5d are calculated
through weather data provided by NOAASIS, and CR is calculated
by weather data of Harbin meteorological station.
3.1.2. Extreme value modeling
The theory for the analysis of extreme value, extreme value the-
ory (EVT), is a branch of statistics predicting the probability distri-
bution of environmental loads [24,25]. Two approaches exist for
practical extreme value analysis. The first of these consist of the
study of maxima over given blocks of time. Under appropriate con-
ditions and if convergence to a non-degenerate distribution func-
tion is verified, the series converges asymptotically toward a
Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution. GEV distribution
combines the Gumbel, Frechet, and Weibull families also known
as type I, II and III extreme value distributions [26]:
TN5d 5 days minimum Average minimum temperature in °C
temperature 5 days
CR Cooling rate Rate at which air temperature °C/h
decreases with time
FD Frost-day counts Days with daily minimum d
temperature less than 0 °C
Icing-day counts Days with daily maximum d
temperature less than 0 °C
 h
x  li1n  h
x  li
FðxÞ ¼ exp  1 þ n ; 1þn >0 ð1Þ
r r
where l is the location parameter, r is the scale parameter and n is
the shape parameter. While for n < 0, the distribution belongs to
the Weibull family; Thus for n ¼ 0 to the Gumbel family and when
n > 0 to the Frechet family of extreme value distributions.
The other method relies on the study of the continuous sample
of exceedances over a certain threshold, chosen in an optimal way
so that the properties of the Generalized Parato distribution are
verified. In our study, the first approach (GEV) has been chosen.
Parameters in Eq. (1) are estimated with the Generalized Max-
imum Likelihood (GML) method proposed by Adlouni S. E. [27].
Furthermore, Kolmogorov distance is adopted to evaluate the
goodness of fit [28,29].
3.2. Asphalt mixture performance tests
3.2.1. Thermal contraction test
The coefficient of thermal contraction (a) causes thermal loads
and has a profound implication on thermal cracking of asphalt
pavement. The thermal contraction of asphalt mixture relies not
only on the characteristics of heat transfer of the constituent mate-
rials, but also on the thermal heat convection. The thermal contrac-
tion characteristics of different types of bitumen and asphalt
mixtures have been concerned and studied for many years
[15,18,20,30–32]. More researchers have accepted that the thermal
contraction of asphalt mixture exhibits nonlinear behavior in ther-
mal cracking models until the glass transition temperature (Tg)
reaches. The glass transition temperature is referred to as the tem-
perature at which the molecular mobility becomes so small that
the corresponding decrease in free volume can be considered
insignificant. As the non-linearity of the thermal contraction was
investigated in the present studies, most of researchers had
selected Eq. (2) the process of thermal contraction [18,30,31].
  
DV T  Tg
¼ C þ ag ðT  T g Þ þ Rðal  ag Þln 1 þ exp ð2Þ
V0 R
where DV=V 0 represents the relative change of the thermos volu-
metric strain; C is considered a curve-fitting constant with no phys-
ical meaning, which is the intercept with the vertical axis
corresponding to the intersection point of the two linear asymp-
totes; al and ag are the liquid and glassy coefficient of contraction/
expansion, which can characterize the response of strain and the
molecular internal mobility in low temperature before the failure
occurs; R is the parameter representative of the curvature between
the two linear asymptotes, as shown in Fig. 3. Its geometrical mean-
ing is related to the distance (for T = Tg) between the temperature-
strain curve and the intercept point of the two linear asymptotes.
Thermal contraction tests were adopted to study thermal
contraction/expansion performances of asphalt mixture. The data
measured on the unrestrained beams (35 mm  30 mm 
220 mm) is referred to the change in volume and is used to
 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268 261

Fig. 3. Schematic representation of the curve parameters [18].

calculate the strain and the glass transition temperature (Tg). There
is commonly a relationship of the Eq. (3) between the linear ther- Fig. 4. Schematic representation of the stress-temperature curve parameters of
mal contraction coefficient (a) and the thermos volumetric strain TSRST.
in an isotropic material, then the thermos volumetric strain can
be obtained by measuring the linear thermal contraction coeffi-
cient (a). One LVDT was fixed on the specimen to measure ther- [31,33], which characterizes thermos-mechanical coupling occur-
mally induced deformation. Compared with thermal contraction ring in pavement during the cooling period. An initial axial tension
above 20 °C, the thermal stress can be dissipated more rapidly. was used to the specimen with 5 °C, 10 °C, 15 °C and 20 °C cooling
And the lowest temperature in Harbin city of Northeast China is rates (detailed in Section 4.1). In our analysis, to obtain the transi-
37.3 °C. So the test temperature ranges from +20 °C to 40 °C, tion temperature (TT) was assumed to be the temperature where
selected for the detailed information of reasons can be found else- the coefficient of Pearson’s R2j between the linear fitting and
where [31]. stress-temperature curve (as Eq. (4)) reduced to 0.99. The transi-
tion temperature characterizes the change of asphalt materials
DV
¼ ð1 þ aÞ3  1 ð3Þ from ductile to brittle behavior and where rheological behavior is
V linearly weakened.
The cooling/heating rate is a key factor in thermal heat convec- 8
> i ¼ 1; T 1 ¼ T f ; r1 ¼ rf
tion. According to the temperature control conditions, there are >
> 
>
> P j P j 2
two types of the thermal contraction test: a). certain temperature >
> Pj T r
< T
i¼2 i
i¼2 i
ri  j
i¼2 i
difference; b) continuously changing temperature. The thermal ð4Þ
> R2j ¼ 2
P 2 32
P 2 3 ði P 2Þ
contraction coefficient (a) is acquired during the certain tempera- >
> j j
>
> 4P Ti
54P i¼2 i
r
5
ture difference. The continuously-changing temperature method is >
>
j
T2 
i¼2 j
r2 
: i¼2 i j i¼2 i j
used to study the nonlinear behavior of the thermal contraction.
Then, the two ways of changing temperature are stepwise and con-
where i denotes the i-th point of the stress-temperature curve from
tinuously changing temperature. In order to quantify the influence
the failure to the start of test (Fig. 4); Ti and ri were the stress and
of thermal heat convection on the measurement results, the ther-
temperature at i-th point; j is the total number of points on the
mal contraction strain in thermal equilibrium is obtained first by
using stepwise changing temperature. So the specimens were kept stress-temperature curve; R2j is the coefficient of Pearson’s between
for four hours at 10 °C, 0 °C, 10 °C, 20 °C, 30 °C and 40 °C in linear fitting and stress-temperature curve among the failure tem-
an environmental chamber. In the way with continuously changing perature and the j-th point temperature.
temperature, the conditioning time at 40 °C was set equal to 4 h
to guarantee enough time to the beams for actually reaching the 4. Results and discussion
thermal equilibrium state. Since the contraction/expansion pro-
gress of the specimen in an unconstrained state can be considered In order to accurately evaluate the low-temperature perfor-
as a non-destructive and reversible process, the testing method is mance of asphalt mixture, the testing conditions of evaluation
heating up. After reaching the thermal equilibrium state, the tem- method are improved through statistical analysis of winter tem-
perature was increased at 5 °C/h, 10 °C/h, 15 °C/h and 20 °C/h perature extremes. Firstly, the distribution of extreme temperature
respectively, for comparing the influence of thermal heat convec- indices was described via a proper statistical model. Secondly, the
tion on the evaluation indexes. testing conditions of the evaluation method of the materials on the
corresponding layer are determined by analyzing the impacts of
3.2.2. Thermal stress restrained specimens test (TSRST) winter temperature extremes on pavement temperature. Thirdly,
TSRST can simulate thermos-mechanical coupling occurring in the low-temperature properties of materials are obtained by using
pavement during the cooling period. The parameters for evaluating the linear interpolation method in Harbin.
low-temperature performance are taken from the temperature-
stress curve. The fracture strength (rf) is the highest value of 4.1. Statistical analysis of winter temperature extremes indices
temperature-stress curve, and the fracture temperature (Tf) is the
temperature at the fracture strength (rf), as shown in Fig. 4. The In order to analyze the distribution of winter temperature
parameter dr/dT becomes a quasi-constant slope at the end of extremes, the temperature extremes indices distributions were fit-
temperature-stress curve. ted by the GEV distribution. The series of winter temperature
The principle of TSRST can is to fixed at the ends of the tested extremes have been collected for Harbin, TNn and TN5d from daily
rectangular specimens (35 mm  30 mm  220 mm) in an envi- temperature during the period 1951–2012, CR from hourly tem-
ronmental chamber for 2 h at 20 °C when the test is started perature during the period 2001–2011. Therefore, the quantiles
262 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268

Table 4
Estimated parameters value at the peak probability density and threshold value with 99.9% cumulative frequency for different winter temperature extremes indices.

Index Distribution n l r D D0.05 Value at the peak Threshold value with 99.9%
family probability density cumulative frequency
TNn Weibull 0.20 0.40 0.49 0.01 0.21 22.3 °C 38.1 °C
TN5d Weibull 0.17 0.39 0.71 0.03 0.42 21.6 °C 36.3 °C
CR Frechet 0.05 0.41 0.83 0.01 0.42 1.1 °C/h 7.4 °C/h

corresponding values to different reliability could be computed.
The goodness of fit is tested with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov statis-
tic; in all the indices the GEV distribution is valid to test the
extreme temperature distribution at the 5% levels. The model
parameters are presented in Table 4 and shown in Fig. 5. For
TNn, and TN5d, the shape parameter of the GEV distribution is neg-
ative. It indicates Weibull distribution is the most appropriate in
the discussion of TNn, and TN5d. For CR, the shape parameter of
the GEV distribution is positive indicating a heavy right tail for
the distribution of temperature change rate extremes. Thermal
cracking is the predominant distress in Harbin, and the probability
of occurrence of thermal cracking is relatively higher [22], the
threshold values for three winter temperature extremes indices
with their 99.9% cumulative frequency are computed. For compar-
ison purposes, the values at the peak probability density are also
listed in Table 4. The threshold values of TNn and TN5d with
99.9% cumulative frequency are 38.1 °C and 36.3 °C, which are
15.8 °C and 14.7 °C lower than that at the peak probability density.
So the lowest temperature of the experiments in this study is
designed to be 40 °C.
The cooling rate in the low-temperature evaluation method is
commonly set depending on the most serious condition of winter
temperature extremes. But many researchers selected different
cooling rates. Meanwhile, due to the cooling rate affecting the eval-
uation indexes on low-temperature performance, CR distribution
characteristics were analyzed in detail. Fig. 6 shows the cumulative
frequency corresponding values to different cooling rates in 2001–
2011. The largest cooling rate was the threshold value with 99.9%
cumulative frequency (7.4 °C/h). The minimum frequency at the
cooling rate larger than 7.4 °C/h was twice (2011), and the max-
imum frequency was 14 times (2005). In addition, the cumulative
frequency at the cooling rate larger than 4.7 °C/h was 94 times.
Some researchers artificially increased the cooling rate in order
to accelerate the test, and then adopted the cooling rate of
20 °C/h [17,19]. And the cooling rate of AASHTO Standard No. TP
10-93 and British Standard EN 14023 is 10 °C/h. Hence, 5 °C/h,
10 °C/h, 15 °C/h and 20 °C/h cooling rates were considered as influ-
encing factors in the following study.
4.2. Impacts of winter temperature extremes on pavement
temperature
4.2.1. Impacts of TN5d and TNn on pavement temperature
TN5d and TNn are the two parameters describing the duration
and intensity of winter temperature extremes. In this section,
two different time-series weather data were adopted (shown in
Table 5). The corresponding pavement temperature at different
depths was collected from the experiment system detailed in Sec-
tion 2.2 to analyze the impacts of TN5d and TNn on pavement tem-
perature and freeze-thaw depth.

Fig. 5. Probability distribution of winter temperature extremes indices: (a) TNn; (b) TN5d; (c) CR.
 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268 263

for two cases. Reviewing the curves, several general observa-

250 tions may be made. Firstly, when there is a moderate amount
of temperature extremes event in winter, more heat flux trans-
200 fers from the pavement profile to environment and lowers the
pavement temperature. Comparing less winter temperature
Times

150
extreme events, the minimum temperature at 0.9 m depth
100 reduces from 2.5 °C to 4.5 °C, and that at 1.3 m reduces from
0.6 °C to 0.8 °C.
50
Secondly, the phase change of water at 0 °C is the essential
0 2012 cause of freeze-thaw cycles [34], so the depth at 0 °C is just defined
3 4 2008
5
6 7 2004 as the freeze-thaw depth in this paper (the freeze-thaw depth
Cool 2000 ar
ing r
Ye
8 would require further investigation with different site conditions).
ate (°
C/h) When winter temperature extreme occurs frequently, there is a
significant difference in freeze-thaw depth that prolongs the frozen
Fig. 6. Frequency of different cooling rates in 2001–2011. period. Compared to less winter temperature extremes, the maxi-
mum freeze-thaw depth is increased from 1.22 m to 1.43 m.
Accordingly, the frozen period is prolonged from 149 days to
Table 5
Comparison of TN5d and TNn extreme events between two cases.
170 days, and the materials above 1.43 m depth are necessary to
consider the performance of thermal cracking and freeze–thaw
Date Average Frequency of Frequency of damage. Furthermore, as Fig. 7(c) shows, the date of pavement
temperature TN5d TNn extreme
(°C) extreme events/ events/
minimum temperature and maximum freeze–thaw depth around
number of number the year are not affected when observed without winter tempera-
times of times ture extreme event. That is a basis for the evaluation of the mate-
Case 1: Nov 2008–Apr 2009 12.5 0 1 rials on the subgrade structure.
Case 2: Nov 2011–Apr 2012 13.3 8 3
4.2.2. Impacts of cooling rate extremes on pavement temperature
It is generally known that the behavior of asphalt mixtures
As Table 5 shown, average temperatures for the two series under low-temperature conditions is mainly affected by the tem-
weather data have a small difference. However, significant differ- perature gradient and cooling rate in asphalt pavement. In this sec-
ence exists in the frequency of TN5d and TNn extreme events. tion, two different series weather data were adopted (shown in
Comparing case 1, frequency of TN5d (TNn) extreme events at Table 6). The extreme event happened in Nov 14, 2011 was chosen
95% confidential level is 8 times (2 times) more than that of as the research object. For comparison, the case without extreme
case 2. event (case 2) is also considered. As Table 6 shown, the daily aver-
Observed pavement temperature distribution with depths for age air temperature is slightly difference between the two cases.
two weather data series are compared in order to determine the But a significant difference exists in the maximum cooling rate.
sensitivity of pavement temperature distribution to the winter Compared with the Nov 13, 2011 series, the maximum cooling rate
temperature extremes. Fig. 7(a) and (b) summarize the results is 5.4 °C/h which is two times more.

Fig. 7. Impacts of TN5d and TNn at different depth: (a) 0.9 m; (b) 1.3 m; (c) the maximum freeze-thaw depth.
264 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268

Table 6 Secondly, when there is a cooling rate extreme event, higher air
Comparison of weather condition between Nov 13, 2011 and Nov 14, 2011. temperature difference improves the pavement temperature
Date Daily average air Average cooling Maximum cooling change rate near the surface. Compared to the pavement tempera-
temperature (°C) rate (°C/h) rate (°C/h) ture distribution characteristic at 0.02 m depth on Nov 13, 2011,
Case 1: Nov 5.0 1.1 5.40 the maximum cooling rate is improved from 1.95 °C/h to
14, 2011 2.95 °C/h on Nov 14, 2011 which is 1.5 times more and means
Case 2: Nov 4.9 2.2 2.75 more low-temperature damage risk (Fig. 9(a)). Moreover, cooling
13, 2011
rate extremes event only improves the temperature gradient in
pavement profile from the base case between 0% and 20%, which
it seems somewhat less significant than cooling rate in pavement
Air temperature and pavement temperature distribution char- profile (shown in Fig. 9(b)).
acteristic in cooling rate extremes is plotted in Fig. 8. Impacts of Overall, based on the temperature distribution and variation char-
cooling rate extremes on pavement temperature distribution are acteristics on different depths of the asphalt pavement affected by
shown in Fig. 9. As Fig. 8 shown, the maximum cooling rate winter temperature extremes, the testing conditions of the evalua-
extremes event happened at 14:40 (5.40 °C/h). With air temper- tion method of the materials on the corresponding layer will be
ature decreasing, pavement temperature near the surface (0– selected more objectively and effectively. The asphalt material on
0.10 m depth) exhibits an obvious decreasing process. The maxi- surface layer is gravely affected by the atmosphere in contact with
mum cooling rate at 0.02 m depth is 2.95 °C/h, and the maximum it, so that it is particularly important to accurately evaluate the
temperature gradient within 0.02 m depth is 0.47 °C/cm. How- low-temperature properties. Later, this paper will focus on the
ever, according to the heat transfer theory, the unsteady heat impacts of winter temperature extremes on the low-temperature
transfer process in pavement structure is with energy degradation. performance of an asphalt mixture on the pavement surface.
This results in the reduction of temperature gradient and cooling
rate with depth increasing. Comparing to those at 0.02 m depth, 4.3. Impacts of cooling rate on the evaluation indicators of asphalt mixture
the maximum cooling rate at 0.20 m depth is reduced from
2.95 °C/h to 0.10 °C/h. It indicates that the pavement tempera- 4.3.1. Thermal contraction behavior of asphalt mixtures
ture with the depth increasing was weakly affected by the cooling Thermal contraction/expansion behavior of asphalt mixtures is
rate extremes happened. the one key parameter specifying the level of a mixture of

Fig. 8. Air temperatures and pavement temperature distribution characteristic in cooling rate extremes event in winter (Nov 14, 2011): (a) temperature distribution; (b) rate
of temperature change; (c) temperature gradient distributions.
 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268
Fig. 9. Impacts of cooling rate extremes on pavement temperature distribution characteristic: (a) Impacts of cooling rate extremes on max rate of pavement temperature
change; (b) Impacts of cooling rate extremes on max pavement temperature gradient.
resistance to low-temperature cracking [31]. In fact, Thermal con-
traction/expansion can induce the thermal stress/strain accumula-
tion. The rate of heating/cooling will affect the test results of
thermal contraction/expansion behavior, as shown in Fig. 10(a).
Due to the dependence of transient convective heat transfer on
time and temperature factors, when the cooling rate was faster,
the thermal strain was smaller. When quantitatively analyzing
the influence of the cooling rate on the thermal strain, the thermal
strain in the thermal equilibrium with different temperatures was
first obtained (Fig. 10(b)). Fig. 10(c) presents the total accumulated
thermal strain in the range of 20 °C to –40 °C with different cooling
rates, and difference of accumulated thermal strain between ther-
mal equilibrium (0 °C/h) and transient heat transfer with different
cooling rates. The difference increased with the cooling rates
increasing, reaching 499.06 le at 20°/h cooling.
Since Tg can reflect the changes in the structural state of the
material that can be relatively considered as brittle glassy state at
this temperature, many scholars focus on Tg value for a mixture
effected by its binder phase. In fact, it is also affected by the cooling
rate. The results are depicted in Fig. 10(d) where it can be noted
that Tg increases from 22.4 °C to 16.4 °C with cooling rate
increasing. Moreover, the cooling rate and Tg exhibited a linear cor-
relation (the coefficient of determination R2 reaching 99.75%).
Fig. 10(e) reports the results of the liquid and glassy coefficient
of contraction (al and ag). al reduces from 21.73  106/K to
19.14  106/K with the cooling rate. It should be noted that the
configuration of the material below Tg changes slowly towards
the equilibrium structure. So ag is less affected with the cooling
rate, increasing from 1.17  106/K to 1.47  106/K.
Generally, a lower R value means that the material has a wider
transition and better low-temperature performance. But R value
decreases with the lower heating/cooling rate, shown in Fig. 10
(f). The influence value per 1 °C/h between 5 °C/h and 20 °C/h is
around +3.06  102(the coefficient of determination R2 reaching
98.13).
The above results quantified the influence range of the param-
eters on the thermal contraction behavior of mixtures by the cool-
ing rate. When the non-linearity effect of thermal strain/stress in
different materials were investigated, these findings will be further
confirmed to predict thermal strain accurately.
4.3.2. TSRST results and analysis
It has been confirmed that TSRST is a good repeatability test
[15]. All the results were obtained from three repetitions on three
different specimens for each cooling rate, with small Coefficient of
Variations (CV) (less than 13%). In Fig. 11(a), the temperature-
265
thermal stress are summarized. As the cooling rate increases, the
thermal stress is accumulated so rapidly that it causes earlier
cracking with a higher temperature at failure, increasing from
4.2 MPa to 5.08 MPa.
For the transition temperature (TT) (shown in Fig. 11(b)), it
appears that TT happens at higher temperatures with a higher cooling
rate as a result of the stress relaxation time shortened. The lowest
value of TT was 25.5 °C/h at the cooling rate 5 °C/h. As the cooling
rate was during 5 °C/h and 20 °C/h, the value of TT increases linearly
at 1.22 °C/(°C/h) with the cooling rate increasing (R2 = 99.26%).
The slope dr/dT is a parameter on characterizing the brittle
behavior of asphalt mixtures at cold temperature. The reason why
the slope dr/dT is negative is that the temperature is negatively cor-
related with thermal stress on the temperature-thermal stress curve.
As the cooling rate goes higher, the heat inside the specimen becomes
relatively larger so that the average temperature of the cross-section
of the specimen is higher. Furthermore, the slope dr/dT denotes the
stiffness of asphalt mixture at different temperatures, so the slope
dr/dT increases from –2.89  106 MPa/°C to 2.13  106 MPa/°C
with the cooling rate increasing (Fig. 11(c)).
It is noted that Tf is a reliable and physical indicator as the low-
temperature property of asphalt mixture is evaluated [32]. From
the presented results in Fig. 11(f), it can be observed that the Tf
has a good linear relationship with the cooling rate, the coefficient
of determination R2 reaching 96.39%. Since the increase of the cool-
ing rate shortens the relaxation time, Tf increases from 34.4 °C to
29.7 °C at a rate of +0.5206 °C/(°C/h).
4.3.3. Low-temperature performance discussion with winter
temperature extremes in Harbin
The factors in the low-temperature evaluation method of mate-
rial are derived from the climatic conditions of the site in service,
such as TNn, CR and the temperature distribution of the asphalt
pavement. In order to determine relationships between the cooling
rate and the parameters of the thermal contraction test and TSRST,
each of the parameters were compared to the cooling rate and pos-
sible linear correlations where investigated. The results of the coef-
ficient of Pearson’s R2 are presented in Tables 7 and 8. It can be
seen in Tables 7 and 8 that the parameters of low-temperature per-
formance have a good linear relationship with the cooling rate (the
coefficient of Pearson’s R2 more than 90.18%). Then the low-
temperature performance of AC winter temperature extremes in
Harbin can be determined by the linear interpolation.
It can be observed that the difference of the main parameters on
low-temperature performance among the largest cooling rate in
Harbin (7.4 °C/h with 99.9% cumulative frequency) and the other
266 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268

Fig. 10. Thermal contraction results with different cooling rates: (a) temperature-strain curves; (b) the thermal strain in the thermal equilibrium; (c) difference of
accumulated thermal strain with different cooling ways; (d) the glass transition temperature Tg; (e) al and ag; (f) the parameter R.

cooling rates, list in Tables 7 and 8. On the parameters of the
thermal contraction test with winter temperature extremes in Har-
bin, the accumulated thermal strain increased by 3.70% and
25.43%, theal increased by 0.84% and 12.48%, the ag decreased by
7.24% and 14.48%, the Tg decreased by 7.22% and 30.95%, and the
R decreased by 1.00% and 3.58%, respectively, as compared with
the parameters of the cooling rates of 10 °C/h and 20 °C/h respec-
tively,. With respect to the parameters of TSRST with winter tem-
perature extremes in Harbin, compared with the parameters of the
cooling rates of 10 °C/h and 20 °C/h respectively, the TT decreased
by 10.34% and 204.89%, and the Tf decreased by 3.21% and
11.90%, respectively. The slope dr/dT increased by 26.51% com-
pared with that of the 20 °C/h cooling rate, while it did not change
statistically compared with that of the 10 °C/h cooling rate.
The low-temperature performance of the asphalt mixture with
different cooling rates has a different response. According to the
local winter temperature extremes, the testing conditions of the
evaluation method on the low-temperature performance are deter-
mined to achieve accurate low-temperature performance. The
proper selection of road materials based on the low-temperature
performance help maximize the efficiency of materials utilization
in terms of resistance to thermal cracking.
 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268 267

Fig. 11. TSRST results with different cooling rates: (a) temperature-stress curves; (b) the transition temperature TT; (c) the slop dr/dT; (d) the failure temperature Tf.

Table 7
The main parameters of thermal contraction test with different cooling rates.

Parameters Accumulated thermal al (106/K) ag (106/K) Tg (°C) R

strain @-40 °C (le)
7.4 (°C/h) 912.174 21.528 1.257 21.5078 10.721
10 (°C/h) 879.650 21.349 1.356 20.0593 10.830
20 (°C/h) 727.240 19.140 1.470 16.4248 11.120
R2 (%) 99.84 96.03 90.18 99.75 98.13

(1) Weibull distribution is an appropriate model in the discus-

Table 8
The main parameters of TSRST with different cooling rates. sion of TNn and TN5d. For CR, Frechet is the best-fitted
model among the GEV distribution. The threshold values of
Parameters TT (°C) dr/dT Tf (°C)
TNn and TN5d with 99.9% cumulative frequency in Harbin
7.4 (°C/h) 23.2 0.26946 33.2336 are 38.1 °C and 36.3 °C, and that of the cooling rate with
10 (°C/h) 21.0 0.27125 32.2
99.9% cumulative frequency is 7.4 °C/h.
20 (°C/h) 7.6 0.213 29.7
R2 (%) 99.26 91.08 96.39
(2) It is found that the frequency of TN5d and TNn extreme
events have an obvious impact on pavement temperature
and maximum freeze–thaw depth.
(3) The temperature change rate at the upper layer (0–0.1 m
5. Conclusion depth) of asphalt pavement is easily affected by the cooling
rate extremes event. On the other hand, cooling rate extreme
In this paper, statistical models for describing the distribution event influences the pavement temperature change rate
characteristics of extreme temperature indices are proposed based near the surface, but less significant for temperature gradi-
on the observed data and the threshold values with their 99.9% ent in the pavement in a short time.
cumulative frequency are also proposed. To investigate the impacts (4) Due to the correlations between the cooling rate and the
of winter temperature extremes on pavement temperature, exper- parameters of thermal contraction test and TSRST are very
iments are carried out for different winter temperature extremes good (R2 > 90.18%), the low-temperature performance of
events. In order to quantify the influence range of the parameters AC with winter temperature extremes in Harbin can be
on the low-temperature performance by the winter temperature determined by the linear interpolation. The low-
extremes, thermal contraction test and TSRST are employed with temperature performance captured through the thermal
different cooling rates. The following conclusions can be drawn contraction test and TSRST can be affected by the cooling
from the present work: rate. The proper selection of road materials based on the
268 Z. Sun et al. / Construction and Building Materials 208 (2019) 258–268
low-temperature performance help maximize the efficiency
of materials utilization in terms of resistance to thermal
cracking.
Based on the performed analysis on the winter extreme temper-
ature indices, further research on the materials at various depths
will be in progress to evaluate the corresponding low-
temperature performance. Nevertheless, additional work is needed
to complete the low-temperature evaluation of materials for differ-
ent layers on the asphalt pavement and establish the relationship
the failure temperatures between the on-site pavement and the
evaluation.
Conflict of interest
None.
Acknowledgment
The financial support of the Ministry of Science and Technology
of the People’s Republic of China (Grant number 2014BAC07B00),
MOST Grant (2006BAJ18B05-04) and the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (Grant number 51678207) is gratefully
acknowledged. The authors thank Zhongbin Fu, Bingxi Li, Sigang
Wu and Jun Li for their suggestions in the experimental process.
Huawei Cheng and Ming Sun are thanked for providing us help
in the experimental facility construction process. Thanks to the
anonymous reviewers for many comments that have notably
helped us improve the manuscript.
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