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Destructive and non-destructive determination of

resilient modulus of hot mix asphalt under different
environmental conditions
a b a
Y.A. Jimoh , Idowu Oluwabunmi Itiola & A.A. Afolabi
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of
Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria
b
Department of Lands, Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Torino,
Torino, Italy
Published online: 10 Oct 2014.

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To cite this article: Y.A. Jimoh, Idowu Oluwabunmi Itiola & A.A. Afolabi (2015) Destructive and non-destructive
determination of resilient modulus of hot mix asphalt under different environmental conditions, International Journal of
Pavement Engineering, 16:10, 857-867, DOI: 10.1080/10298436.2014.964235

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 International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 2015
Vol. 16, No. 10, 857–867, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2014.964235

Destructive and non-destructive determination of resilient modulus of hot mix asphalt under
different environmental conditions
Y.A. Jimoha*, Idowu Oluwabunmi Itiolab1 and A.A. Afolabia
a
Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Kwara, Nigeria; bDepartment of
Lands, Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
(Received 6 October 2013; accepted 16 July 2014)

This paper reports the outcome of a study on the resilient modulus of hot mix asphalt characterised under different
environmental conditions and testing methods with the intention of establishing the effects of climate and testing procedure
for appropriate standardisation of laboratory and field quality control/assurance of pavement works. Destructive (DT) and
non-destructive (NDT) tests were carried out on laboratory Marshall Specimens of an asphalt mix prepared for a specified
pavement wearing course in Nigeria at three temperatures: 4, 25 (in dry air), 25 (soaked in water) and 508C. The DT was
achieved with the Marshall Stability apparatus for the indirect tensile strength while the non-destructive was accomplished
with the portable ultrasonic non-destructive digital indicating tester. Sixty-four test specimens were conditioned to the three
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temperatures before conducting the strength characterisation exercise alongside the effect of delayed test for a few hours and
3 months. The moisture susceptibility damage of the hot mix asphalt was also assessed with the specimens at the prevailing
laboratory room temperature of 258C. Statistical analysis of variance test was carried out on the resilient modulus data base
developed to establish the effects of the temperature and other treatments. The resilient modulus of hot mix asphalt
decreased as the temperature increased, irrespective of the test method adopted, while the NDT method gave a more
consistent result than the destructive, thereby recommended as a better quality control scheme during the construction of
bituminous flexible pavement. The 3-month delay in testing the strength of asphalt does not significantly affect the value at
5% level of confidence.
Keywords: resilient modulus; indirect tensile strength; destructive and non-destructive; treatment effects

1. Introduction as these might have been affected by the atmospheric factors,

Asphalt concrete is a composite material commonly used in
the construction of the topmost layer of a flexible pavement as
surfaces for roads, airports and parking lots. It consists of a
binder bitumen/asphalt, mixed mineral aggregates and filler,
all mixed together at about 160 or 1668C (if with state-run
bitumen or polymer-modified bitumen), laid and compacted
either hot at 1458C in the subtropics, such as in Nigeria (FGN
1997), or in cold conditions at the room/normal temperature
that were designated as hot mix asphalt (HMA) and cold mix
asphalt, respectively (Cornell Local Program 2004). The
HMA is a viscous – elastic and plastic material that
experiences moisture-susceptibility damage when exposed
to the effects of changes in the atmospheric and environmental
factors due to temperature and moisture (Tom 2009).
In the development of stress–strain relationship, the
estimation of crack potential or fatigue life of pavement
structures, either with the mechanistic (M) or mechanistic-
empirical analytical approaches, the material elastic proper-
ties and the geometry of the layers (thickness) are the
principal inputs (Jimoh and Akinyemi 1987, 1989, Nazarian
1999). The appropriate forms of mechanical property for
HMA are the tensile strength, the stiffness (resilient modulus
and elastic modulus) and the moisture susceptibility damage
and this must be reflected in the analysis.
For quite some time and indeed before the introduction
of the 1986 AASHTO design guide, the evaluation of the
plastic response of asphalt mix to static loads has been
evaluated with the Marshall Stability apparatus (Associate
Agencies, Ahmedabad, India). The indirect tensile strength
(ITS) has also been extensively used in the structural design
of flexible pavements since the 1960s and in accordance to
the 1986 and 1993 AASHTO design guides, as well as for
mix characterisation for long-term pavement performance
program (Witczak et al. 2002, Vivek 2007). However,
experience and large-scale vehicle load simulation tests
have indicated that static load tests do not reflect the various
dynamic and load repetitions that are actually applicable on
a pavement (Nicholas 2011), and that there is a difference in
pavement deflections for pavement subjected to static and
dynamic traffic loads. This fact can perhaps be used to
explain the incorporation of the resilient modulus (MR) of
HMA in the current AASHTO design guide and/or M
analysis for structural pavements (Tabatabaie et al. 2008).
Therefore, the determination of the resilient modulus of
HMA is desirable for realistic M analysis of a flexible
pavement to reflect the effects of the repetitions of traffic

*Corresponding author. Email: Dryajimoh@yahoo.com

q 2014 Taylor & Francis
 858 Y.A. Jimoh et al.
wheel loads, the temperature differences, water condition
and the ambient environmental conditions.
The MR test could be done in two ways: the destructive
test (DT) and the non-destructive test (NDT). DT has the
advantage for encouraging conservative design because it
is intended to ensure that the ultimate strength of the
materials should manifest as failure are requirements and
has the potentiality of production of extensive and large
data base of results (ERES Consultants Inc. 2004). The
method is, however, disadvantaged in terms of timeliness
because it takes an appreciable length of time for the
adhesive mastic of the mix components (particles and
filler) to completely breakdown and the testing lasts,
thereby limiting the number of tests to be carried out
within a time space. The situation is not appropriate for
desirable coverage for routine evaluation studies, such as
for routine quality control and assurance of pavement
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works. It also costs a lot of money relatively for the
procurement of the heavy Marshall equipment and its
accessories for testing. The NDT procedure, on the other
hand, can reasonably correct the deficiency, especially in
the laboratory for a rapid turnover and larger numbers of
repeatable and reliable testing regimes in pavement works.
NDT takes a relatively shorter time and relatively cheaper
cost with its accuracy estimated at a coefficient of
variation of 2% (Jackob 2010). Moreover, the functionality
of the structure or the material element would still be intact
after the indirect and NDT that is one of the very important
requirements identified in the maintenance codes of non-
destructive evaluation (NDE) procedure for large and
complex civil engineering structures. NDT is therefore
more appropriate for studying the effect of changes in
weather and environmental conditions.
A major benchmark in the determination of adequacy of
works in road construction is the laboratory-developed
properties of the construction material. For instance, in the
quality control and assurance of earthworks in the field, the
relative compaction is determined with Equation (1), where
the maximum dry density is determined under the laboratory
conditions. The reliability of such an exercise would be more
appropriate with the NDT method, in either the field or
laboratory study. Although the density measurement, a NDE
of mix asphalt after a day of lay, has been tried as a pavement
performance characteristic, it was, however, discarded
because no significant differences were observed in either
the field or laboratory study (Makowski 2002).
Dry density
RC ¼ ð%Þ: ð1Þ
Maximum dry density
The aim of the paper was to characterise the resilient
modulus of HMA with the two main testing procedures
(DT and NDT), at different moisture and environmental
conditions, with a view to establishing the design and
maintenance practice that will appropriately reflect the
prevailing environment on the flexible pavement. The
objectives of the study include (a) determination of the
resilient modulus (MR) of hot mix asphalt from the DT of
the ITS at different environmental conditions; (b)
determination of the resilient modulus of HMA with
NDT at the same environmental conditions; (c) establish-
ment of the differences and correlation in the values of MR
based on DT and NDT methods; (d) assessment of the
effect on the resilient modulus of the hot mix asphalt for
temperature, moisture condition and curing at laboratory
temperature; and hence (e) propose an appropriate
laboratory-based quality assurance scheme for the HMA.
Incidentally, not much use of the ultrasonic apparatus
portable ultrasonic non-destructive digital indicating tester
(PUNDIT) for characterising the elastic property of HMA in
the laboratory or field has been reported as for other
construction materials, such as concrete (hydraulic cement),
timber, ceramics, geological specimens, refractory materials,
carbon electrodes and cast iron, CNS Farnell Limited (2006).
The successful adoption of the apparatus for HMA shall be
part of worthwhile development of in situ procedure for
quality control of bituminous and flexible pavements.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Preparation of test specimens
The materials for the study included the mineral mix
aggregates, mineral filler and 60/70 asphalt (bitumen
binder) that satisfied the requirements for the production of
hot mix asphalt for tropical and sub-tropical regions, the
Nigerian specifications (FGN 1997), Overseas Road Note
19 (TRL 2002). Sixty-four Marshall Specimens (100 mm
diameter and 60 mm height, and automatically compacted
in the laboratory) were prepared according to the Marshall
Design Manuals (ASTM D1559, ASTM D6931 and BS
598-107). HMA was batched at 5.4% optimum binder
content, which was within the 4–7% specifications for
wearing course mixes for Nigeria roads (FGN 1997). The
particle-size gradation of the aggregates together with the
Job Mix Formula used for the production of the asphalt
mixes is presented in Table 1 as compared with the Nigerian
specification for pavement wearing course. The maximum
size of the aggregate is 25 mm. The test specimens were
produced from the asphalt mixes compacted using the
automatic asphalt compactor at 75 blows on both bottom
and top of the standard Marshall mould.
2.2. Establishment of the testing conditions and
schedule (temperature and moisture)
The prevailing temperature recorded by the Nigerian
Metrological Service Agency from 1995 to 2008 and
analysed has 88C as the lowest, the mean of 278C and the
maximum of 408C (Olorunmaiye 2010). However, the
 International Journal of Pavement Engineering
Table 1. Particle-size distribution and the Job Mix Formula for the hot mix asphalt for wearing course.
Particle-size gradation
S/N
Passing
Sieve size (mm) (%)
1 25.4 100
19.1 94.3
9.5 67.5
4.76 48.7
2.36 31.2
0.300 9.9
0.075 3.4
The job mix formula
2 Optimum binder content (%) 5.5
3 Mineral coarse aggregates (%) 51
4 Fine aggregates 49
5 Crushed rock mineral filler (quarry dust) 10.0
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of 90% proportion finer than 75 mm (%)
6 Straight run bitumen of penetration 65
a
Nigerian general specifications for roads and bridges (FGN 1997).
latest maximum temperature recorded in 2011 is 46.18C
(for Maiduguri) and the minimum 4.48C (for Jos)
(Webmaster 2011). This implies that the HMA-flexible
pavement in a typical subtropical region can experience
minimum and maximum temperatures of 4.4 and 46.18C,
respectively. Thus, a temperature range of 4 – 508C, with
258C as the most common room temperature, was used and
adopted as a typical prevailing temperature in Nigeria, a
sub-tropical region. The 64 specimens were therefore
divided into four experimental test groups, respectively,
for estimating the effects of temperature, testing
procedures (DT and NDT), 3-month curing and moisture
condition. Sixteen specimens were used for the moisture
and the remaining 48 for the temperature effects. The latter
specimens were again portioned into two sub-groups (24
each) for the curing effect study, the virgin and the air-
cured HMA. The virgin refer to test carried out on the
specimens immediately after compaction while the air
cured is for specimens exposed to the atmosphere for a
period of few hours to 3 months before testing. The
conditioning of wet specimens and at the desired
temperatures was achieved with water baths under
controlled conditions. See Figures 1 – 3, respectively, for
specimens at 48C (iced), 258C (wet in water) and 508C (in
hot water bath). The testing was carried out on the
specimens according to the scheme represented in Table 3
at the rate of eight specimens per group.
2.3. Non-destructive MR tests
The PUNDIT apparatus (CMH Ltd, Lancing, West Sussex,
UK) (Model 7) was used, and it consisted of a V-metre as a
859
Nigerian specificationsa Remarks
100 Within the corresponding
specifications
90 – 100
56 – 80
35 – 65
23 – 49
5 – 19
2–8
5–8 Within the corresponding
specifications
Between 85% and 100%
finer than 75 mm
60/70
pulse generator, a timing circuit coupled with a piezo-
electric transmitter and special removable epoxy coupling
caps at both transducer ends to ensure the full contact
between the specimen and the transducers. The apparatus
measures the velocity of ultrasonic pulses through the test
specimen, as normally used for concrete elements.
According to Jackob (2010), the principle involves the
introduction of ultrasonic pulse (. 25 kHz) longitudinal
stress (compression) waves into one surface of a concrete
material by a transducer coupled with grease at one end
and the other receiving the pulse directly at the opposite
end (ASTM C215, ASTM C597) (Figures 4 and 5).
All the test specimens were used first for the test with
the PUNDIT in line with the test groupings before DT.
As the compression waves were passed through each test
specimen, the corresponding transit velocity was deter-
mined (transit distance/transit time), and substituted
appropriately into Equation (2) (elastic modulus) and
Equation (3) (the resilient modulus) (Singh 2008),
adopting the suggested values of the Poisson ratio
(n ¼ 0.30, 0.35 and 0.40 at 5, 15 and 408C, respectively)
for HMA at different temperatures (University of New
Mexico Material Laboratory 2011). Initially, the geometric
and mass properties of each specimen were determined.

V 2P rð1 þ nÞð1 2 2nÞ
E¼ ; ð2Þ
ð1 2 nÞ
M R ¼ 0:77 £ E ¼ 2Gð1 þ nÞ; ð3Þ
where MR is the resilient modulus (MPa), E is the Young’s
modulus of elasticity, G is the shear modulus, r is the mass
density or the total unit weight of the mix specimen (kg/m3),
 860 Y.A. Jimoh et al.
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Figure 1. HMA test specimens at 48C.

Figure 3. Test specimens maintained at 508C in the hot
autoclave.
g is the acceleration due to gravity (m/s2), Vp is the
compression transit velocity through the specimen (length Figure 6 presents the schematic set-up of the ITT and
of transit path (m)/transit time (s)) and n is the Poisson ratio. Figure 7 presents the crushed asphalt specimen as
evidence for DT. Also the Marshall flow meter was
appropriately fixed in position with guide rods to measure
2.4. DTs with the Marshall Stability machine the deformation of the test specimens. The testing was
carried out in accordance with TxDOT Designation Tex-
The diametric indirect tensile test (ITT) was performed on
226-F, the standard procedure developed by the Texas
all the 64 test specimens immediately after each NDT with
Department of Transportation. The load and correspond-
the PUNDIT was completed in order to maintain the same
ing strain at failure were noted and used in the computation
test conditions as much as practicable. The Marshall
of the ITS (St) (TX) and the resilient modulus (MR) as
Stability loading was transformed into uniformly dis-
follows (Xiao 2009, Jessica 2010).
tributed 25-mm wide £ 3-mm thick metal strips inserted
at both top and bottom of the contact with the specimen as
desired for ITT. The strips are slightly longer than 60 mm.

Figure 4. PUNDIT apparatus – the main features and test

Figure 2. HMA test specimens at 258C. specimen in place.
 International Journal of Pavement Engineering 861

temperatures and curing, exposure to air against soaking in

water) and the two methods of testing (DT and NDT) with
respective statistics are summarised in Table 2. The
resilient modulus determined for the HMA are in the range
of 3223 – 22,844 MPa for NDT, and 583 –8534 MPa for
DT for the temperature range of 4 –508C. These values
seem to be within the range reported by some authors
(Anderson 2002, Kansas Department of Transportation
2006, Hoffman 2009), who have all reported relatively
higher strength values at lower temperatures and
particularly Hoffman’s quoted figures of 14,000, 3500
and 150 MPa for dense HMA at 0, 21 and 458C,
respectively. An inspection of Table 2 indicates the
general decrease in MR as the temperature increases,
which is in consonance with typical values reported for
dense HMA pavement materials. The probable reason can
be directly linked to the viscous nature of binder (bitumen)
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and the bituminous materials, which are temperature

dependent. Also, the NDT values were significantly higher
Figure 5. PUNDIT testing of HMA specimen – compression
wave transit velocity measurement. than the DT values, as much as about thrice at low
temperature of 48C, twice at 258C and same (approxi-
mately 1.0) at 508C. The wet conditioning of the materials
2000 £ F is even in the negative sense introducing more complexity
St ¼ ; ð4Þ for the behaviour under a change climate of alternate wet
p£h£d
and dry seasons as applicable in the tropics.
MR ¼
St
: ð5Þ Incidentally, the coefficient of variation (100 £
1f 2 10 standard deviation/mean value) for NDT is relatively
Here, F is the maximum load in kN, t is the specimen lower than those of DT, which is in the range of 4 –9% and
thickness (mm) and d is the diameter (mm); 1f is the strain 11 –26%, respectively. The coefficient of variation for the
at failure and 1o is the initial strain. latter compares with the 2% reported for dense asphalt mix
(Jackob 2010). This implies a fact that the NDT method of
characterising the HMA is very repeatable, more
3. Analysis of results and discussions consistent and superior to the DT; Shah (1993)’s reported
3.1. Statistics of the MR values diametric ITT derived resilient modulus (destructive)
The results of the laboratory determination of the resilient measurements which are not very repeatable nor reliable
modulus of HMA under various test conditions (three unless more sophisticated test system and/or better quality

Figure 6. ITT test set up.

 862 Y.A. Jimoh et al.

The treatment effect evaluated are the testing

temperature (three levels), testing methods (two, DT and
NDT) and 3-month curing (virgin, 3 months air exposure).
The effect of water treatment was equally evaluated. The
two-way ANOVA was used to test the overlapping effects
of the temperature and testing method. Hoteling the two-
group method for a multivariate statistical analysis for the
treatments was also used.
The summary of the results of the ANOVA test on the
means of the resilient modulus determined for the various
treatments is presented in Table 3. The null hypothesis H1
states that the effects of temperature with regard to (i) the
value; (ii) the testing method, DT/NDT; (iii) no curing at all
(virgin); and (iv) combination of treatments, temperature,
material type virgin/air cured, test method within material
type and test method nested for both material types. The
alternative hypothesis (H2) is the opposite of H1.
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Figure 7. Sample material from the IIT test.

Table 2. Testing group schedule for the HMA.

Virgin HMA Air-cured HMA
S/N specimens (32) specimens (32)
1 Group A1 at 48C Group A2 at 48C
2 Group B1 at 258C (dry) Group B2 at 258C (dry)
3 Group C1 at 258C (wet) Group C2 at 258C (wet)
4 Group D1 at 508C Group D2 at 508C
of test specimen are used. The same materials were used
for both tests in this study.
3.2. Treatments effect on the resilient modulus of HMA
In order to establish the treatments that have significant
effects on the resilient modulus of HMA, the coefficient of
variation parameter and the statistical analysis of variance
of the determined values were used. A coefficient of
variation value of # 5% gives a general feeling of good
performance, while a higher value is the opposite feeling.
The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the developed data
for the resilient modulus of the HMA was carried out with
the statistical SPSS package Stata Version 8 software
package (Albright and Marinova 2010).
3.3. The resilient modulus of HMA
The resilient modulus determined in the range of 3223–
22,844 MPa (DT) and 583 –8534 MPa (NDT) are compar-
able to those typical values suggested by the authors
(Tabatabaie et al. 2008, Hoffman 2009) and the Kansas
Department of Transportation (2006). Both DT and NDT
resilient modulus test methods are appropriate for
characterising a bituminous mix. However, the destructive
resilient modulus result is relatively on the lower side but
with higher coefficient of variation (. 10%). The
corresponding coefficient of variation for all instances of
NDT is within 10%. This implies that NDT is more reliable
in the consistency of measurement and probably more
reliable for the resilient modulus. It means the NDT
approach must be preferred.
An equation to correlate the non-destructive resilient
modulus value with destructive resilient modulus value at
each temperature (4, 25 and 508C) was developed using
the Excel 2003 software package, with the summary of the
outcome as shown in Table 4. The significance of this
correlation is to provide an avenue for comparison of the
outcome of the choice of the test method so that a
laboratory without facility for any of the method shall not
become a problem in characterising the HMA strength.

Table 3. Summary of HMA resilient modulus (MR) results.

Air-cured HMA Virgin HMA

T (8C) DT (8 Samples) NDT (8 samples) DT (8 samples) NDT (8 samples)
48C (COV) 8,534,929 (11%) 228,441,195 (5%) 8,019 (15%) 21,067 (8%)
258C (D) (COV) 2,821,745 (26%) 8,609,760 (9%) 2,721,700 (26%) 8400 (7%)
258C (W) (COV) 2581 (26%) 11,135 (4%) 2,620,579 (22%) 10,183 (4%)
508C (COV) 583 (19%) 3,223 (5%) 670 (26%) 3,232 (6%)
Note: D, dry HMA specimens; W, wet (soaked) HMA specimens.
 International Journal of Pavement Engineering
Table 4. Correlating test method, resilient modulus [destructive (MR-DT) and non destructive (MR-NDT)].
Temperatures Equations
48C MR-NDT ¼ 3.45MR-DT 2 6602.44
258C (dry) MR-NDT ¼ 2.09MR-DT þ 3311.58
258C (wet) MR-NDT ¼ (24.41MR-DT þ 74137.87
508C MR-NDT ¼ 1.03MR-DT 2 107.39
3.4. Effect of temperature on behaviour of HMA
As can be inferred under the conclusion column of Table 3
and the data of Table 2, temperature has effect in almost all
the factors considered. Temperature fall and rise can cause
severe pavement damage due to expansion and contraction.
Under an extreme temperature variation, it can lead to
catastrophic failure. Damage to the binder or other surfacing
layers (asphalt) generally comprises surface cracks,
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deformations and potholes. For example, flexible and rigid
pavement do suffer from large transverse crack as a result of
excessive contraction in cold weather. Thus, determining the
effect of varying temperatures on the modulus of asphalt will
be desirable. In fact, strength–temperature model has a good
potential use for pavement performance and maintenance
monitoring for a flexible pavement.
Increase in the temperature of asphalt layer is one of
the major factors of failure in asphalt pavements in tropical
zones, because the high air temperature and severe
radiation of solar ray cause increase in asphalt layer
temperature with implied lower strength, the resilient
modulus. In this connection, loads from wheels of heavy
vehicles produce more vertical strains occasioned by the
compression force on an already weakened asphalt
concrete as a result of higher temperature, ultimately
causing rutting in the wheel path. Also tensile strain
developed would result in cracks in the pavement. The
skid resistance of asphalt pavement surface decreases with
an increase in the temperature, thereby reducing the safety
of the road (Bazlamit and Reza 2005).
A lower resilient modulus value was observed for both
the air-cured and fresh asphalt samples at a higher
temperature of 508C above the laboratory temperature,
whereas at a lower temperature below the laboratory
temperature, a higher resilient modulus value was
observed. The high-temperature effect on asphalt can lead
to cracking, rutting and bleeding of the asphalt pavement.
3.5. The ANOVA test results
The ANOVA test results were used to confirm the
observation from the measured data, the ANOVA results
for air-cured and virgin asphalt-destructive method and air-
cured and virgin asphalt-non-destructive method show a p-
value of 0.00, which is , 0.05 and indicates that the effect of
the temperature on the resilient modulus of asphalt sample
using any method is not the same. The combined effects of
863
R Sample size, 3 replications of
0.97 8
0.96 8
0.95 8
0.82 8
the temperature, asphalt material type and method of testing
on the resilient modulus were also determined. The test
results show that the effects of temperature and method of
testing are not the same with p-values of 0.0005 and 0.0012,
respectively, which are , 0.05, while those of asphalt
material type (air cured/virgin) are the same with a p-value
of 0.7439, which is . 0.05. The effects of DTand NDTwere
treated independently on the resilient modulus value for
both air-cured and virgin asphalt. The p-value was 0.8615,
which is . 0.05, therefore the resilient modulus results for
DTs are the same for both virgin and air-cured asphalt. This
also applies to the NDT method. This confirms that HMA
attains its strength characteristic a few hours after
production. Quality control tests on resilient modulus
should be done immediately and few days after the asphalt
mix production. The summary of the ANOVA test results
for the three treatments is shown in Table 5.
3.6. Testing of the effect of treatments
In this study, there are 3(temperature) £ 2(testing pro-
cedure) £ 2(cured and virgin) at 12 treatments effect. The
outcome of ANOVA test carried out using the Stata Version
8 Software package (Table 3) to check the effect of
temperature on the resilient modulus value for each method
of testing (DT and NDT) and the asphalt specimens types
(virgin and air cured) gave convincing implications of the
effects of the various treatments. In addition, deductions on
the combined effect of temperature, asphalt material type,
method of testing on the resilient modulus of the asphalt, as
well as the effect of method of testing were considered
independently on the resilient modulus value for both air-
cured and virgin asphalt. At a p-value (level of significance)
of 0.05 (5%), the important effects or interactions were
identified from the summary of ANOVATable 5. Generally,
two hypotheses were tested for each factor (H1 and H2).
The higher the F value or the lower the p-value represents
the significance of the factor or treatment.
3.6.1. Effect of curing on resilient modulus of HMA
The resilient modulus of air-cured sample does not differ
much from that of fresh samples at each temperature
condition (see Table 2). This shows that asphalt cured for 3
months is immaterial while characterising the resilient
modulus of bituminous pavement. The test can be done
 864 Y.A. Jimoh et al.

Table 5. Summary of ANOVA analysis for treatment effects.

Treatment Null hypothesis (H1) p-Value Decision Conclusion

1. Temperature (DT) Has same effect 0.0000 Reject H1 Effects of temperatures for DT
are not the same
2. No curing, virgin (DT) Has same effect 0.0000 Reject H1 Effects of temperature on curing
for DT are not the same
3. Month air cured (NDT) Has same effect 0.0000 Reject H1 There is an effect of
curing on the strength of
HMA-tested NDT
4. No curing, virgin (NDT) 0.0000 Reject H1 Effects of temperature are not
the same
5. Combined effect of temperature, Temperature has same effect 0.0005 Reject H1 Effects of temperature are not
material and material/method same
(1) Temperature Effect same 0.7439 Accept H1 Effects of whether virgin or
exposed to air 3 months
are the same
(2) Material type (virgin/cured) Effects of the materials are not same
(3) Test method nested within Effects of test methods are same 0.0012 Reject H1 Effects are not the same
material
Downloaded by [Mr Pusjatan Bandung] at 02:34 27 August 2015

(4) Test method nested for Vectors of means for the 0.8615 Accept H1 Means for DT for the
both materials two groups (air cured and two groups are the same
virgin) are same) (means for NDT for the
two groups are the same)

immediately for decision-making in quality control/
assurance during the construction works. As the HMA is
air cured, it also brings about an advantage that modulus of
asphalt can be taken days after paving or production of the
compacted mix. However, this observation is in disagree-
ment with Caffeine Group LLC. HMA has been observed
to have fully cured and reached the increased strength, at
least after 3 months (Caffeine Group LLC 2011).
3.6.2. Effect of testing procedure (NDT and DT)
It was observed that the NDT resilient modulus value is
higher than that determined from DT for both air-cured
and virgin asphalt, and the same trend was observed for the
effect of temperature on asphalt also. The ANOVA test
result shows that the resilient modulus from the two
method of test is not the same. The results from these tests
fall within the typical range of resilient modulus of HMA.
The resilient modulus result from non-destructive
measurement has a lower coefficient of variation that
makes the PUNDIT equipment useful for quality control
of resilient modulus of HMA.
Table 6. Summary of ANOVA test results.
Effects p-Value
Temperature 0.0005
Material (air-cured and virgin HMA) 0.7439
Testing method 0.0012
3.6.3. Combined effect of temperature, curing and
testing procedure on HMA strength
At a temperature of 48C, the resilient modulus value is
lower for destructive and higher for non-destructive for
both air-cured and virgin asphalt, although higher
modulus is observed at 48C for both method. At a
temperature of 508C, which is above the laboratory
temperatures, the resilient modulus is lower for DT and
higher for NDT. However, lower resilient modulus was
observed for both the NDT and DT procedures for either
air-cured or virgin asphalt. Also there was no significant
difference in the resilient modulus value between air-
cured and virgin HMA. The ANOVA analysis results
show that the method of test and temperatures does not
have the same effect on the resilient modulus of the HMA
but for the effect of material types (i.e. virgin and air
cured) is the same.
3.6.4. Effect of moisture on resilient modulus
Table 6 shows that the differences in the indirect tensile
strength value between dry and wet compacted HMA
specimen at 258C is low. Also the tensile strength ratio
(TSR) between the dry and wet compacted HMA at
temperature of 258C was determined as suggested by
Roberts et al. (1996), and a TSR value of higher than 0.80,
the AASHTO TP4 recommended bench mark for
laboratory-produced specimens, was obtained, which
indicates that the compacted HMA is moisture resistant
(Roberts et al. 1996).
 International Journal of Pavement Engineering
3.7. Laboratory testing standardisation for quality
control/assurance of HMA
In this project, DT and NDT are presented to demonstrate the
usefulness of the techniques to overcome some pertinent
concerns that include (a) selection of the quality control
device, which should have four major features to be effective
in practical use – (i) ability to suitably measure the
fundamental properties of materials directly (i.e. it should not
be an index test), (ii) sensitive enough to the parameter of
interest so that poor and/or high-quality materials can be
readily delineated, (iii) the measurements should be accurate
enough so that necessary feedback to the pavement designer
and the laboratory personnel is in operation and (iv) the
device should be precise enough so that it can be readily used
in the QA/QC process; (b) QA/QC protocol compliance –
several interrelated parameters to be comprehensively
considered in order to ensure the accomplishment of recent
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goal of performance-based specifications preferred by most
highway agencies (a shift from the prescriptive specifica-
tions), in this case the resilient modulus of HMA; (c)
development of evaluation data base – pre-construction
laboratory tests to be carried out to determine the suitability
of a material in terms of the design parameter (the resilient
modulus strength) with which adequate target modulus
should be established in direct relationship or correlation,
including the acceptable risk levels (statistically and/or
probability based); and (d) site/field QC/QA execution –
involves the quality control during construction, ensuring
that the target modulus has been achieved in order to achieve
the goal of constructing a durable and long-lasting layer of
HMA. This means that the modulus assumed for the HMA by
the pavement engineer should be verified by the laboratory
engineer during the mix design and by the resident engineer
during construction (Table 7).
The Arizona QA/QC scheme readily comes to fore for
adoption as appropriately detailed enough (Arizona Depart-
ment of Transportation 2006) to ensure that the three inter-
related items or personnel functions are synchronised in
developing a good quality asphalt mix course (among the
pavement, laboratory and construction engineers). The
pavement engineer verifies that the thickness and modulus of
the layer are adequate (so that structural failure would not
happen), the laboratory engineer selects the materials and
mix (Job Mix Formula, to provide durable pavement with
adequate modulus and the construction), while the laboratory
engineers should perform the laboratory and field tests (in
order to ensure that the layer is adequately constructed and
Table 7. Indirect tensile strength (ITS) results for HMA at
258C.
HMA type 258C (dry) 258C (wet) TSR
Virgin 87.3 86.4 0.98
Air cured 63.7 77.5 0.82
865
the material delivered as designed in the laboratory to assure
desired material durability).
4. Conclusions and recommendations
4.1. Conclusions
Based on the outcome of the laboratory study of DT and
NDT on samples of HMA at different temperatures, curing
time and moisture conditions with the statistical analysis
of the generated resilient modulus data-set, the following
conclusions can be made:
1. The effect of temperature on the resilient modulus
of hot mix asphalt is statistically significant at 5%
level of reliability with the prevailing average
values of 22,000, 8400 –11,135 and 3200 MPa,
respectively, at 4, 25 and 508C temperatures.
2. The manifested lower modulus and resistance against
tensile stress can promote horizontal lateral cracks at
the early age of the HMA at the higher temperature
resulting into poor bituminous pavement perform-
ance and bleeding at a typical sub-tropical region.
3. A TSR of 0.82–0.98, .0.80, was determined for the
resilient modulus of hot mix asphalt when subjected
to moisture (wet) conditions at the same laboratory
temperature of 258C, which shows that the HMA is
resistant to moisture susceptibility damage under the
requirements of AASHTO TP4 specification.
4. Lower resilient modulus (than the virgin) was
recorded when the mix specimens were air cured
(exposed to the atmosphere for few hours before the
test), which means that delay in characterising the
mechanical strength of hot mix asphalt would predict
a poorer performance.
5. The 3-month curing duration did not have any effect
on the resilient modulus as evident by the insignif-
icant difference in resilient modulus values between
air-cured and virgin HMA at 5% level.
6. The resilient modulus of HMA from the non-
destructive test on Marshall Specimen’s subjected to
ultrasonic waves with the PUNDIT apparatus gave
more consistent result than the destructive ITT with
the Marshall Stability apparatus (coefficient of
variation values (4–9%) and 11–26%), respectively,
at all the temperatures studied.
The quality assurance scheme for flexible pavement
works with the NDT equipment immediately and after a few
days proved to be an effective QA/QC for the hot mix asphalt.
4.2. Recommendations
The following recommendations can therefore be made
from the outcome of the study:
1. NDT using PUNDIT equipment is a reliable tool to
be used as a quality control parameter for routine
 866 Y.A. Jimoh et al.
characterisation of resilient modulus because it is a
rapid test and with acceptable level of reliability for
the resilient modulus data-set at different
temperatures.
2. It is desirable that the comparative analysis of the
PUNDIT equipment as the NDT equipment with
the existing conventional equipment of V-metre or
the other more complex Free Resonance column
and Portable Seismic Pavement Analyser equip-
ment that equally reflect the dynamic nature of
traffic wheel loads be carried out in order to ensure
the needed routine testing for hot mix pavement
maintenance.
3. Further research work on the effectiveness of non-
destructive equipment of PUNDIT as real-life
flexible pavement structure performance study to
reflect the influence of the dynamic nature of traffic
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loads, temperature and other climatic conditions is
needed.
4. In order to reduce the effect of high temperature on
resilient modulus, it is suggested that the current
practice of wetting the HMA pavement during hot
weather should be continued.
Note
1. Email: idowuitiola@gmail.com
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