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Construction
and Building

Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 219–225

MATERIALS
www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Performance evaluation of a high durability asphalt binder and a

high durability asphalt mixture for bridge deck pavements
Hee Mun Park a,*, Ji Young Choi a,1, Hyun Jong Lee b,2, Eui Yoon Hwang c,3
a
Korea Institute of Construction Technology, 2311, Daehwa-Dong, Ilsan-Gu, Goyang-Si, Gyeonggi-Do 411-712, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
c
SK Energy Institute of Technology, 140-1, Wonchon-Dong, Yusung-Gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

Received 27 September 2007; received in revised form 3 December 2007; accepted 4 January 2008
Available online 20 February 2008

Abstract

This paper describes the results of laboratory and full-scale performance tests for a high durability asphalt binder (HDAB) and high
durability asphalt mixture (HDAM) applicable to the wearing course in a bridge deck system. The HDAB was developed using a sty-
rene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) modifier and hydrocarbon for improving construction workability and resistance to fatigue cracking. Var-
ious binder tests were conducted on the HDAB, and test results showed that the resistance to fatigue and low temperature cracking of the
HDAB increased significantly compared to that of the PG 64-22 and PG 76-22 binders. For the mixtures, the fatigue test results showed
that the HDAM has a three times longer fatigue life than the SBS-modified asphalt mixture. It was also found that the HDAM has a
higher resistance against moisture-induced damage. Results from full-scale accelerated testing on the bridge deck pavement system
proved that the HDAM can significantly improve pavement performance.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: High durability asphalt binder; High durability asphalt mixture; Fatigue cracking; Bridge deck system

1. Introduction
Bridge deck pavements have been used extensively to
protect the bridge deck against moisture and provide good
ride quality and skid resistance. Recently, various types of
distresses such as cracking and pot holes have been
observed in asphalt bridge deck pavements in Korea
(2006). Repeated loads, vibrations of the bridge deck, a
thin surface layer, and severe weather conditions accelerate
these pavement distresses. Moreover, such deterioration
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 31 9100 323; fax: +82 31 9100 161.
E-mail addresses: hpark@kict.re.kr (H.M. Park), legion@kict.re.kr
(J.Y. Choi), hlee@sejong.ac.kr (H.J. Lee), eyhwang@skcorp.com (E.Y.
Hwang).
1
Tel.: +82 31 9100 541.
2
Tel.: +82 2 3408 3812.
3
Tel.: +82 42 866 7301.
reduces the service life of the bridge system and increases
repair and rehabilitation costs.
Fatigue cracking in particular is a primary mode of dis-
tress in bridge deck pavements and affects the durability of
the concrete or steel bridge deck. Fatigue cracking in con-
junction with moisture infiltration typically reduces the
stiffness of the asphalt mixture and the adhesive bond
between the asphalt layer and the bridge deck. Several
studies have been conducted to assess the fatigue cracking
potential of mixtures in bridge deck pavements [7,6]. Ear-
lier, Metcalf [5] performed flexure loading tests to evaluate
the fatigue and stiffness properties of bridge deck pave-
ments. Widyatmoko and Elliot [8] have used a stone mastic
asphalt mixture with a polymer modifier on a steel bridge
deck to improve the stiffness and durability of the mixtures.
The primary objective of this study is to develop a high
durability asphalt binder (HDAB) and high durability
asphalt mixture (HDAM) applicable to bridge deck pave-
ments. These asphalt materials have been developed to

0950-0618/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2008.01.001
220 H.M. Park et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 219–225
increase resistance to fatigue cracking and moisture-
induced cracking. To evaluate their material characteris-
tics, various laboratory tests have been conducted on the
developed binder and mix. Also, a full-scale performance
test has been performed to assess the actual pavement per-
formance of the bridge deck pavement system.
2. Development of a high durability asphalt binder
A high durability asphalt binder (HDAB) has been
developed from a series of SBS-modified asphalt binders
to improve the resistance to permanent deformation and
fatigue cracking simultaneously. The base asphalt, contain-
ing aromatic and asphaltene, was obtained from crude oil
to maximize the mix performance of the base asphalt and
the SBS modifier. Generally, the SBS-modified asphalt bin-
der widely used in Korea is produced by combining the PG
64-22 binder with 3–4% of the SBS modifier [4]. However,
for the development of the HDAB, a higher amount of SBS
modifier designed with a proper molecular structure was
applied to the base asphalt. In addition to the SBS modi-
fier, hydrocarbon was added to improve the compatibility
between the SBS modifier and the elastic properties of
the binder. Hydrocarbon can also increase the resistance
to fatigue cracking by linking with the base asphalt and
the SBS modifier. The use of hydrocarbon with its higher
temperature susceptibility can help offset the poor work-
ability and productivity attributable to the higher SBS
modifier content. Fig. 1 shows the manufacturing proce-
dure of the HDAB.
3. Materials and sample fabrication
Three different types of asphalt binders were used in this
study: (a) a conventional asphalt binder (PG 64-22), (b) a
SBS-modified asphalt binder (PG 76-22), and (c) the
HDAB. A typical dense gradation with a nominal maxi-
mum size aggregate (NMSA) of 13 mm was used for the
mixture testing. A conventional asphalt mix, SBS-modified
Base Asphalt
Elasticity
Agitator Stabilizer
Improver
Stabilizer Reactor SBS
HDAB
Fig. 1. The manufacturing procedure of the HDAB.
mix, and a high durability asphalt mix (HDAM) were pro-
duced for the laboratory testing. The optimum asphalt con-
crete contents were determined according to the Marshall
mix design method. The optimum asphalt contents for
the three mixes at a 4% of air void were 5.0% for the con-
ventional asphalt mix, 4.8% for the SBS-modified mix, and
5.5% for the HDAM.
4. Asphalt binder testing
Various binder tests were conducted on the PG 64-22,
PG 76-22, and HDAB to evaluate the physical and
mechanical properties of the binders. The performance
grade of the HDAB was also determined based on the
results of the asphalt binder tests.
The properties of the asphalt binders at high tempera-
tures were measured by a dynamic shear rheometer
(DSR), both in their original condition and after rolling
thin film oven (RTFO) aging. The DSR test was performed
at 70 °C in accordance with AASHTO TP5 [1]. The G*/
sin d value was obtained from DSR testing, and is consid-
ered a good indicator for the rutting resistance of a binder.
At high temperatures, the susceptibility to rutting should
decrease as the G*/sin d value increases. Table 1 presents
the G*/sin d values for each binder. The HDAB shows a
three times higher G*/sin d value than the PG 64-22 asphalt
binder but a slightly lower G*/sin d value than the PG 76-22
asphalt binder in their original conditions. However, the
HDAB and PG 64-22 asphalt binder have almost the same
G*/sin d values once they are aged. It is concluded from this
test that the HDAB satisfies the Superpave rutting criteria
at 70 °C.
At 22 °C, the DSR test was also conducted on all the
binders that were aged using the pressure aging vessel
(PAV) test to evaluate the fatigue cracking potential. The
G* sin d value obtained from the test is a key factor in indi-
cating the resistance to fatigue cracking. It is noted that the
fatigue cracking potential decreases as the G* sin d value
decreases. Table 2 shows the G* sin d values for the different
asphalt binders along with the fatigue cracking criteria sug-
gested by the Superpave binder specifications. It is found
that all the binders satisfy the suggested criteria. The
G* sin d value of the HDAB is 12 times lower than that of
the other binders, indicating that the HDAB has a very
high resistance to fatigue cracking.
Table 1
G*/sin d values for each asphalt binder
Criteria Binder G*/sin d
at 70 °C (kPa)
Original asphalt G*/sin d (kPa), PG 64-22 0.63
binder minimum, 1.0 kPa PG 76-22 2.38
HDAB 1.91
RTFO residue G*/sin d (kPa), PG 64-22 3.04
minimum, 2.2 kPa PG 76-22 4.97
HDAB 3.00
 H.M. Park et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 219–225 221

Table 2 1000
G* sin d values for each asphalt binder Conventional asphalt mix
Criteria G* sin d at 22 °C (kPa) SBS modifiedmix
HDAM
PG 64-22 PG 76-22 HDAB

Initial Strain(με)
G* sin d (kPa), minimum, 5000 kPa 2525 2405 201
100

Table 3
Creep stiffness and m value for each asphalt binder
Test Creep stiffness (MPa), m value, minimum, 0.3
temperature maximum, 300 MPa
(°C) 10
PG 64- PG 76- HDAB PG 64- PG 76- HDAB 1000 10000 100000 1000000
22 22 22 22
Nf (Cycles)
6 75.69 65.76 – 0.42 0.39 –
12 232.90 181.35 – 0.31 0.32 – Fig. 2. Results of fatigue test obtained from the indirect tensile test.
24 – – 188.01 – – 0.33

To measure the low temperature cracking potential of Table 4

the asphalt binders, the bending beam rheometer test was
conducted at 6, 12, and 24 °C. It is noted that all
the binders were aged using the PAV. The stiffness and m
values were calculated from the test results and are shown
in Table 3. In this study, the PG 64-22 and PG 76-22 bind-
ers were tested at 6 and 12 °C. However, the HDAB was
tested only at 24 °C because it has a higher resistance to
low temperature cracking. The test results clearly indicate
that creep stiffness and the m value of the HDAB at
24 °C are almost equal to those of the PG 76-22 asphalt
binder at 12 °C. Based on the results of the binder tests,
the performance grade of the HDAB is found to be 70-34.
5. Asphalt mixture testing
5.1. Fatigue testing
Fatigue testing was performed using servo-hydraulic
closed loop testing equipment, manufactured by MTS.
All the tests were conducted in the indirect tensile mode
at 20 °C, and the loading and measuring systems proposed
by the FHWA Long-term Pavement Performance (LTPP)
program [3] were used. A haversine wave with a 0.1 s load-
ing time with and without 0.9 s rest periods was used in the
fatigue testing. Three initial strain levels were used: 60, 80,
and 100 lm strain. Six samples for each mix were fabri-
cated in the laboratory. The failure criterion used in this
test is the number of load repetitions at which the current
stiffness decreases to 50% of the initial value. The coeffi-
cients a and b for the fatigue model shown in Eq. (1) were
estimated through regression analysis based on the test
data.
N f ¼ aðe0 Þ ;
b
ð1Þ
where Nf is the fatigue life of the asphalt mixture; e0 is the
initial tensile strain; and a, b are the fatigue coefficients.
Fig. 2 shows the fatigue test results for the three different
mixtures. Because the same aggregate gradation was used
Coefficients of fatigue model
Mixture Fatigue coefficients R2
a b
Conventional mix 2  10 15
5.8824 0.9364
SBS-modified mix 2  1014 5.0647 0.9718
HDAM 1  1014 4.714 0.8498
for three mixtures, the test results shown in Fig. 2 directly
represent the effects of the asphalt binders on the fatigue
cracking potential. Fig. 2 shows that the fatigue life of
the HDAM is greater than that of the other mixtures at
a wide range of strain level. The resistance to fatigue crack-
ing of the SBS-modified mixture seems to be slightly higher
than that of the conventional mix. This fact indicates that
the use of the SBS modifier can decrease the fatigue crack-
ing potential. At 100 lm of initial strain, the HDAM shows
a four times and two times longer fatigue life than that of
the conventional asphalt mix and SBS-modified mix,
respectively. The longer fatigue life of the HDAM is possi-
bly due to the additives that improve the resistance to fati-
gue cracking. Table 4 shows the coefficients of the fatigue
model for the three mixtures tested in this study.
5.2. Wheel tracking testing
The wheel tracking tester, developed by Tanifuji
Machine Industries Co. Ltd. in Japan, was used according
to the KS F2374 test procedure. A contact pressure of
628 kPa and total wheel load of 1.37 kN were applied to
the 300 mm  300 mm  50 mm slab specimens. Two slab
specimens for each mix were compacted in the laboratory
using a rolling compactor. The wheel passed 42 times per
minute at the center of the specimen. The wheel tracking
tests were conducted at 60 °C to evaluate the permanent
deformation characteristics of the asphalt mixtures.
Dynamic stability values were calculated from the wheel
tracking test data and are shown in Table 5.
222 H.M. Park et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 219–225

Table 5 Table 7
Results of wheel tracking test Results of strain and bending strength tests
Mixture Conventional SBS-modified HDAM Mixtures Temperature Strain Bending strength
asphalt mix asphalt mix (°C) (MPa)
Dynamic stability (N/mm) Conventional asphalt 10 0.0094 9.01
1st 2488 5727 3043 mix 0 0.0116 8.64
2nd 2333 5780 3150 10 0.0135 6.52
SBS-modified asphalt 10 0.0119 9.99
mix 0 0.0129 9.07
It is found that the HDAM has a higher dynamic stabil- 10 0.0186 7.08
ity than the conventional asphalt mix, but a lower dynamic HDAM 10 0.0128 11.54
stability than the SBS-modified asphalt mix. Although the 0 0.0181 11.11
HDAB has an SBS additive in the binder, the chemical 10 0.0275 7.58
additive in the HDAB that improves the resistance to fati-
gue cracking also reduces the dynamic stability in the mix.
Because the objective of the development of the HDAM is mend that the TSR value should be greater than 70–80%.
to decrease the fatigue cracking potential, approximately As shown in Table 6, the TSR values obtained from the
3000 N/mm of dynamic stability in the HDAM is sufficient SBS-modified asphalt mix and the HDAM are greater than
for the bridge deck pavement. 80%, thus satisfying standard mix design specifications.
The TSR value of the HDAM (98.17%) is about 15%
5.3. Moisture susceptibility testing greater than that of the SBS-modified asphalt mix
(83.87%). The TSR value of 98.17% indicates that negligi-
One of the major distresses observed in bridge deck ble moisture damage has occurred in the HDAM wet spec-
pavements is moisture-induced cracking. General princi- imens. This high resistance of the HDAM to moisture
ples in ASTM D4867-92 [2] were followed in evaluating damage could be due mainly to the anti-stripping agent
the moisture susceptibility of the asphalt mixtures. A Mar- that is premixed into the HDAB.
shall loading machine was used in the indirect tensile test-
ing. Load was applied to the specimen in the diametric 5.4. Bending beam testing
direction by the movement of the machine head at a con-
stant rate of 50 mm/min. Six specimens for each mixture To evaluate the resistance to low temperature cracking,
were fabricated in the laboratory using the Marshall com- the four-point bending beam test was conducted on the
pactor. One subset for the three specimens was tested in the slab specimen at 10, 0, and 10°C. The 300 mm 
indirect tensile mode under dry conditions without mois- 50 mm  50 mm slab specimens were compacted using a
ture conditioning. The other subset was moisture-condi- wheel tracking compactor. The strain value and bending
tioned for 24 h at 60 °C prior to the indirect tensile strength were measured from the test. It is well known that
strength testing. The dry and wet tensile strengths of the the bending strength decreases and the strain value
three different mixtures were measured, and the test results increases with an increase in temperature. Test results indi-
are summarized in Table 6. The resistance of the asphalt cate that the bending strength of the HDAM is 15–30%
mix to the detrimental effects of moisture is expressed as greater than that of the other mixes at low temperatures
the tensile strength ratio (TSR). The TSR is defined as (Table 7).
the tensile strength ratio between the dry and wet speci-
mens. It is well known that a higher TSR value indicates 6. Full-scale performance testing
a better resistance to moisture damage. Most state Depart-
ment of Transportation mix design specifications recom- Full-scale performance test equipment has been devel-
oped by the Korea Institute of Construction Technology
Table 6 to evaluate the performance of bridge deck pavements.
Results of moisture susceptibility test This equipment is capable of simulating a large amount
Mixtures Average tensile strength TSR (%) of loading on the bridge deck pavement in a short period.
(kg/cm2) The loading device equipped with a truck tire can be driven
Conventional asphalt mix forwards and backwards over 2 m of bridge deck pave-
Dry 4.39 55.44 ment. It can apply up to a 10 tonnes maximum wheel load
Wet 2.43 at an average speed of 17 km/h to accelerate the pavement
SBS-modified asphalt mix distresses. A picture of the full-scale performance test
Dry 8.17 83.87 equipment is given in Fig. 3. The instrumentation and con-
Wet 6.85 trol system are intended to control the operation systemat-
HDAM ically, collect all the information relating to the operation
Dry 5.22 98.17 (speed, location, and load level), and manage data such
Wet 5.13
as temperature and deformation.
 H.M. Park et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 219–225 223

Length of Bridge Deck = 3m

Travel Length = 2m
P=5 ton

Pavement

Hac =6cm

Hdeck =25cm

FRP Deck Thermocouple

Reaction
LVDT

Fig. 3. A bridge deck pavement system for full-scale performance testing.

6.1. Fabrication of the bridge deck pavement system
Two specimens of bridge deck pavement were manufac-
tured for the conventional asphalt mix and the HDAM. A
3 m  3 m section of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)
bridge deck pavement was used in this study to reduce
the testing time and accelerate the pavement distresses. A
relatively higher deflection of the FRP bridge deck can
induce pavement distresses in a short period of time. First,
a waterproofing layer using silica and epoxy resin was
placed on the surface of the FRP deck to prevent water
infiltration and improve both the bond between the asphalt
layer and the bridge deck as well as the resistance to shear
deformation. After constructing the waterproofing layer,
the asphalt material was placed and compacted on the
bridge deck to achieve the targeted thickness and air void.
Because the test specimens were designed to investigate the
fatigue cracking potential of the pavements, the target
asphalt layer thickness was set to be 6 cm, which is the
average thickness of a bridge deck pavement in Korea.
To measure the vertical displacements of the bridge deck,
a series of LVDTs were installed at the bottom of the
mance testing using 5 tonnes of load was conducted on
the bridge deck pavement sections. The wheel load of
5 tonnes corresponds to the axle load of 10 tonnes, which
is the maximum allowable axle load in Korea. Rutting pro-
files of the pavement surface were periodically measured
using a profilometer. Rutting measurements were con-
ducted at three different locations in one traffic direction
for each section. Average values of the rutting data
obtained from the three locations were calculated and used
to construct a transverse rutting profile curve. The peak
and lowest values were selected from the rutting profile
curve, and the difference between these two points (i.e.,
the rut depth) was calculated.
Fig. 4 shows the cumulative rut depths with the number
of load applications measured from the conventional and
HDAM pavement sections. The conventional mix has a
maximum rut depth of about 10 mm at 90,000 cycles. In
contrast, the maximum rut depth of the HDAM is about
6 mm, and there is no increase in the rut depth after
12

FRP deck. The vertical displacements were measured at a

10
sampling rate of 500 min1 during the loading tests using
a dynamic data logger. T-type thermocouples were
Rut Depth (mm)

8
installed at the mid-depth location in the asphalt layer to
6
monitor the pavement temperatures. Because the objective
of this study is to investigate the cracking potential of 4
bridge deck pavements, 20–25 °C at room temperature
2 Conventional Asphalt Mix
was maintained.
HDAM
0
6.2. Test results 0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000
Number of Load Repetitions (N)

To measure the rut depth and fatigue cracking of the Fig. 4. Comparison of rut depths in pavements using the conventional
conventional and HDAM specimens, full-scale perfor- asphalt mixture and HDAM.
224 H.M. Park et al. / Construction and Building Materials 23 (2009) 219–225

900 7. Conclusions
800 Conventional Asphalt Mix

700 HDAM A high durability asphalt binder (HDAB) and a high

durability asphalt mix (HDAM) for the wearing course
Crack Length (cm)

600
500
of bridge deck pavements were developed in this study.
Various laboratory tests and a full-scale accelerated pave-
400
ment test were performed to evaluate the performance
300
characteristics of the developed materials. In addition to
200
the binder tests for determining the performance grade,
100 the laboratory tests include the dynamic modulus, moisture
0 susceptibility, indirect tensile fatigue, and wheel tracking
0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000
Number of Load Repetitions (N)
tests. The full-scale accelerated test was conducted for the
two different pavement materials on an actual bridge deck.
Fig. 5. Comparison of crack length in pavements using the conventional Important results obtained from this study are summarized
mixture and HDAM. below:

100,000 load applications. It can be concluded from this
comparison that the HDAM has great potential to reduce
permanent deformation. Because the aggregate gradation
of both mixes is the same, the increase in the rutting resis-
tance of the HDAM is due mainly to the SBS modifier used
in the HDAB.
To evaluate the fatigue cracking potential, the crack
lengths on the surface of the asphalt layer were measured
every 20,000 load repetitions. The cracks on the surface
were marked at given load repetition and measured crack
length manually. The cumulative crack length and number
of load repetitions as well as pictures of the surface cracks
for each load repetition are presented in Figs. 5 and 6,
respectively. The results from the full-scale performance
test indicate that the crack lengths of the conventional
and the HDAM sections were 800 and 50 cm, respectively,
after 90,000 load applications. It is concluded that the
HDAM pavement has a much longer fatigue life than the
conventional pavement.
 The HDAB has been developed using an SBS modifier
and hydrocarbon to improve construction workability
and the resistance to fatigue cracking. It is found from
the binder tests that resistance of the HDAB against
fatigue cracking increases significantly while the low
temperature properties of the binder are simultaneously
maintained.
 Fatigue test results for the mixes show that the fatigue
life of the HDAM is four times and two times longer
than that of the conventional mix and the SBS-modi-
fied mix at a given strain level, respectively. The
increase in the fatigue resistance of the HDAM is
mainly due to the effects of the additives used in this
study.
 The results from the moisture susceptibility test show no
moisture damage after conditioning because of the anti-
stripping agent used in the HDAB. It is also found from
the bending beam test results that the bending strength
of the HDAM is 15–30% greater than that of the other
mixes at low temperatures.
 It is observed from the full-scale test that the HDAM
has great potential to reduce permanent deformation.
Because the aggregate gradation of both mixes is the
same, the increase in the rutting resistance of the
HDAM is mainly due to the SBS modifier used in the
HDAB. Test results show that the crack lengths of the
conventional and the HDAM sections were 800 and
50 cm, respectively, after 90,000 load applications, thus
indicating that the HDAM pavement has a much longer
fatigue life than the conventional pavement.

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