Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Study on the influence of aggregate strength and shape on the

performance of asphalt mixture
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, Kuanghuai Wu, Wenke Huang, Sihang Chen, Qiran Zhang, Jiawen Xie,
Xu Cai ⇑
School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, Guangdong, China

h i g h l i g h t s g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t

Influence of aggregate Strength and

shape on the performance of asphalt
mixture was evaluated.

The CAVF design method was used for
gradation design, and iPAS was used
to explore contact characteristics.

Internal skeleton index has an
excellent linear relationship with
mechanical properties.

The strength of aggregate has a
minimal effect on the performance of
the asphalt mixture.

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

Article history: The strength and shape of aggregates significantly affect the internal skeleton structure (ISS) of the
Received 11 January 2021 asphalt mixtures, which affects the service life of asphalt pavement. ISS is a critical factor that decides
Received in revised form 23 March 2021 the load transfer path in the asphalt mixture. To improve the performance of the asphalt mixture, three
Accepted 6 May 2021
aggregates Granite, Diabase, and Limestone with different strengths and shapes were used. Two-
Available online 18 May 2021
dimensional image processing was used to acquire the ISS including contact properties, distribution
and orientation of aggregates. Marshall, wheel tracking and three-point bending beam tests were carried
Keywords:
out to evaluate the relationship between skeleton indexes with mechanical properties. Results indicated
Lithology
Aggregate shape
that the coarse aggregate voids filling method could obtain mineral gradations with the same volume
Pavement performance combinations for the three aggregates. The crushing value, loss-angles value, roundness, and flakiness
Rutting index have an excellent relationship with contact characteristics, showing that strength and shape
Contact points significantly affect the ISS of the asphalt mixture. The results of Marshall, rutting, and bending stiffness
Aggregate skeleton structure modulus are consistent with the internal structural index, proving that low-temperature and high-
temperature performance of asphalt mixture are directly affected by aggregate contact properties.
There is a weak linear relationship of strength parameters with mechanical properties because Diabase
is three times stronger than Granite but has a lower performance demonstrating that the strength of
aggregate has a minimal effect on the performance and stability of the asphalt mixture. The results
obtained in this study could be used to improve the utilization efficiency of aggregate.
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: cx_caixu@163.com (X. Cai).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.123599
0950-0618/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al.
1. Introduction
With increased traffic volumes and heavier axle load applica-
tions on today’s pavement structures, the need for asphalt mix-
tures with better performance is essential. Asphalt mixtures are
composed of aggregate, bitumen, mineral filler and air voids [1–
4]. The primary part of the asphalt binder is to bind the aggregate
particles together which is responsible for carrying the applied
traffic loads. The critical role of aggregate is to provide structural
strength in stability and durability. Therefore, developing a robust
aggregate skeleton with good mechanical properties is essential to
achieve excellent performance of any asphalt mixture. A durable
pavement has crucial desirable properties, including strength,
durability, workability, flexibility, and fatigue resistance [5,6].
The strength and shape of aggregates significantly affect the
durability, performance, tensile strength, and stiffness of the
asphalt pavements [7,8]. The aggregate must have the appropriate
shape and strength for the high-performance pavement because it
directly influences the performance of the asphalt pavements [9].
The excessive elongated and flaky particles decrease performance
as they break down while making the asphalt mixture and con-
struction process, and resulting affect the durability of Pavements.
On the other hand, the aggregate should be strong enough to resist
crushing traffic wheel loads. Therefore, it is desirable to have angu-
lar and rough aggregate particles rather than round and smooth
aggregates [10,11]. The shape of the aggregate particle decides
the packing of skeleton structure and develops the inside resis-
tance in pavements against deformation. Rutting resistance in
bituminous pavements affected by mix gradation, aggregate, and
Marshall properties. Furthermore, coarser gradation had the high-
est resistance against rutting or deformation, while open gradation
has the lowest resistance [12].
Asphalt mixtures are composed of nearly 95% of aggregates, and
5% of asphalt binder by mixture mass resulting ISS is influenced by
aggregate shape and strength [4,13]. As a result, the ISS of the
asphalt mixture is extremely affected by the shape properties of
aggregate, such as granular shape, angularity and surface texture
[14,15]. It is found that the configuration of asphalt mixtures sig-
nificantly affects the contact characteristics; ultimately, it influ-
ences the response of asphalt mixture against loading [16,17].
Aggregates in contact constitute the skeleton of the asphalt mix-
ture and affect load transmission in the mixture, which determines
its deformation resistance [18]. The connectivity, interlocking, and
aggregate concentrations play an important role while the load
distribution process in the pavements [19]. The rutting or perma-
nent deformation of asphalt mixtures can be forecasted by thor-
oughly understanding the aggregate skeleton [20,21].
In recent years, the skeleton dense asphalt mixture has been
paid more attention because of heavy traffic and extreme weather.
Furthermore, the characteristics of the mixture skeleton affect the
service life of the pavement. Currently, two effective image analy-
sis methods are usually used to investigate the skeleton structure
of asphalt mixtures. The three-dimensional (3D) technique is based
on X-ray and the two-dimensional (2D) image processing tech-
nique based on a charge-coupled device (CCD) by a digital camera
[22–25]. In the modern era, the methodologies and set of rules
used in the digital imaging analysis have been improved with tech-
nology innovations, and attaining the sectional images becomes
more accessible and accurate [26,27].
Previous studies [4,28–30] reported that skeleton structure in
asphalt mixtures is influenced by aggregate size distribution,
morphological properties, shape, surface macro-texture, com-
paction effort, and method compaction. Feng et al. explored the
effect of aggregate morphologies on the skeleton structures and
concluded that the abrasion has a negative effect on the average
2
Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599
contact number as the loss of aggregate morphologies would
adversely impact aggregate interlocking. Moreover, gradation
types significantly affect the average contact number and internal
structure index of asphalt mixtures [1]. Peide et al. evaluated the
effect of the single morphological variable on the adhesion of
asphalt-aggregate and the mechanical properties of asphalt mix-
ture. Aggregate Imaging System (AIMS) was used to quantify mor-
phological characteristics. Peide et al. recommend the optimum
range 3100–3137 for angularity and 0.68–0.63 for sphericity,
respectively [31]. However, fewer studies comprehensively evalu-
ate the influence of aggregate strength and shape on skeleton
structure by using three different aggregates with different
strength and shapes. Sufficient understanding of these features
on the skeleton characteristics is essential for pavement material
design. Therefore, asphalt mixtures with three different aggregate
morphologies and strengths were prepared and iPAS software
(Image Processing Analysis System) based on DIP was used to eval-
uate skeleton structures including contact properties, orientation
and distribution of aggregate [1,21].
The fundamental objectives of this study were to obtain the
mineral gradations with the same volume combinations for the
three different aggregates (Granite, Diabase, and Limestone). The
Coarse aggregate void filling (CAVF) design method was used to
design the gradation and guarantee the dense skeleton structure.
Secondly, evaluate the influence of aggregate strength and shape
on the performance, stability, and skeleton structure of asphalt
mixtures. In addition, the influence of lithology on the performance
of asphalt mixture were also studied. The Marshall test, wheel
tracking, three-point bending beam test, and cross-sectional image
analysis by iPAS software were performed for this purpose. Some
indices were produced to assess the aggregate internal skeleton
structure, including contact points, contact aggregate orientation,
and contact length. Furthermore, the grey relational analysis was
done to understand the influence of strength and shape parameters
individually and combine on the skeleton structure and mechani-
cal performance parameters of the asphalt mixture. In this pre-
sented work, testing was carried out according to the
specifications of ‘‘Test Methods of Asphalt and Asphalt Mixtures
for Highway Engineering (JTG E20-2011)” [32].
2. Material properties
2.1. Aggregates
The maximum amount of aggregate in volumetric design signif-
icantly affects the bituminous pavements’ performance. Therefore,
it is essential to understand the aggregate properties while select-
ing suitable materials and enhancing the mixture’s durability and
strength; consequently, high resistance pavement against rutting
or permanent deformation. The aggregate’s significant properties
include gradation and size, crushing value, toughness and hard-
ness, and water absorption. Many research studies have been con-
ducted and concluded that the characteristics aggregate
considerably influence the performance and durability of asphalt
pavement [33–36].
In this study, three different kinds of aggregate were used:
Limestone, Diabase, and Granite. Tests were conducted to find
the properties of coarse aggregate and fine aggregate for the selec-
tion of material according to ‘‘Test Methods of Aggregates for High-
way Engineering (JTG E42-2005)” [37]. Crushing Value (C.V) and
Los-Angeles abrasion (L.A) tests were considered to evaluate the
strength of aggregate particles to determine the appropriateness
of aggregates for use in different types of road pavements. The
roundness Index (R.I) was determined based on the aggregate
parameters using ImageJ software [7]. Roundness stands for the
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al. Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599

ratio of the actual perimeter of the particle to the equivalent cir- Table 2
cle’s perimeter. The equivalent circle is a circle with the same area Basic properties of asphalt.

as aggregate [11]. R.I values are from zero (0) to one (1), values clo- Property Specifications Test Test
ser to zero means more angular, and closer to one means more Results method
spherical particle. In addition, angularity describes the edge sharp- Penetration (25 °C), 0.01 mm 40–60 54.4 T0604 [32]
ness of aggregate particles. As the aggregate boundary features Softening Point (R&B), °C 70 Min. 88.6 T0606 [32]
change, the angularity of aggregate varies. The larger the angular- Ductility (5 °C), cm 20 Min. 32 T0605 [32]
Brookfield Viscosity (135 °C), Pa.s 3.0 Max. 2.362 T0625 [32]
ity of aggregate, the sharper the edge of aggregate. The angularity Flash Point (COC), °C 230 Min. >230 T0611 [32]
is calculated based on the variation gradient on a particle boundary
and is related to the edge of 2-dimensional images of aggregate
particles. Meanwhile angularity and texture also affect the perime-
ter of the aggregate particle; therefore, R.I not only reveals aggre- approach allows evaluating the coarse and fine aggregates sepa-
gate shape but also describes angularity and texture. Previous rately. In addition, it is used for designing the gradation to achieve
studies [38,39] established that roundness reflects changes in target volumetric or packing Characteristics [43]. The Bailey
aggregate shape, angularity, and texture. All of the indexes meet method proposed three parameters, coarse aggregate, fine
the standard requirements for the asphalt surface course. Test aggregate-coarse fraction, and fine aggregate-fine fraction, to
results of aggregate are presented in Table 1. define the packing of the coarse portion of the aggregate gradation,
the coarse portion of the fine aggregate, and the fine portion of the
2.2. Asphalt fine aggregate, respectively [44,45]. The basic principles of the Bai-
ley Method have been empirically developed; therefore, its param-
The SBS modified emulsified asphalt was used, which was pro- eters and rules are strongly based on sieves and aggregate sizes. In
duced by Jiangmen Qiangda Highway Materials Co. LTD. All of the this study, the CAVF method was used for gradation design because
asphalt’s technical indexes were determined using the ‘‘Standard of its advantages.
Test Methods of Asphalt and Asphalt mixtures for Highway Engi- In CAVF design method, the stone skeleton structure is ensured
neering (JTG E20-2011)” [32]. The test results are presented in by adjusting the amount of mineral aggregate and asphalt content
Table 2. as binder rationally. For high-temperature stability, the aggregate
to aggregate contact is very favorable and also has a reasonably
2.3. Gradation design by CAVF method smooth surface when applied to the external pavement layer.
The backbone of the CAVF Design method is based on experience,
Professor Xiaoning Zhang firstly suggested the Coarse Aggregate and then check the percentage of dry-rodded air voids of the coarse
Void Filling Method (CAVF) [40]. The design idea of CAVF is to test aggregate (VCADRC). Afterwards, determine the amount of coarse
the porosity of mineral aggregates in the main skeleton and calcu- aggregate, fine aggregate, percentage of filler, asphalt and air voids
late the volume of voids. Equate the sum volume of fine aggregates, according to VCADRC. Using this design method, the aggregate can
asphalt, mineral powder and designed voids of the asphalt mixture be effectively interlocked, and the air voids of the main skeleton
to the volume of voids of the main skeleton to confirm the amount can be packed with asphalt mortar [25,46]. Therefore, by intercon-
of fine aggregates and asphalt. Asphalt mortar is composed of fine necting and filling principles, the bituminous mixture’s perfor-
aggregates and asphalt is used as a filler to fill the voids of the main mance can be enhanced considerably. The VCADRC value was
skeleton and prevent asphalt mortar interference. The amount of calculated by Eq. (1).
fine aggregates should not be too large, and the continuous grading

q
amount should be small to avoid aggregate interference. There is VCADRC ¼ 1  sc  100% ð1Þ
qc
another commonly used method for gradation design is the Baily
method. The Bailey Method evaluates aggregate packing and voids Where, qsc is the dry unit weight in dry rodded condition and qc is
of asphalt mixture grading while maintaining appropriate worka- the bulk specific gravity of coarse aggregate. The dry-rodded unit
bility and durability of mixture [41]. It helps to analyze the aggre- weight is the weight of mass per unit volume of dry aggregate,
gate size distribution, using the degree of particles interlock as a which includes the volume of the particles and the air voids
design input [42]. The basic principle of the Bailey is based on between particles. Air adds no weight to the aggregate and only
the aggregate packing characteristics such as; the coarse aggregate occupies a volume; the dry unit weight of aggregate gives an excel-
creates the void while the fine aggregates fill these voids. Thus the lent indication of the air content of the aggregate. The dry rodded

Table 1
Basic properties of aggregate.

Materials Property Specifications Test Results

Granite Diabase Limestone Test Methods
Coarse Aggregate C.V (%) Max. 26 18.65 6.01 19.01 T0316 [37]
L.A.A (%) Max. 28 16.35 5.33 15.59 T0317 [37]
W.A (%) Max. 2.0 1.55 1.48 1.49 T0304 [37]
B.S.G (g/cm3) — 2.61 2.86 2.67 T0304 [37]
A.S.G (g/cm3) Min. 2.6 2.67 2.95 2.72 T0304 [37]
F.I (%) Max. 15 14 4 9 T0312 [37]
R.I — 0.59 0.78 0.72 —
Fine Aggregate A.R.D (g/cm3) Min. 2.5 2.651 2.739 2.667 T0328 [37]
S.E (%) Min. 60 75.33 79.85 76.12 T0334 [37]
Filler A.S.G (g/cm3) Min. 2.5 2.95 T0352 [37]

Note: C.V = Crushing Value; L.A.A = Los-Angeles Abrasion; W.A = Water Absorption; B.S.G = Bulk Specific Gravity; A.S.G = Apparent Specific Gravity; F.I = Flakiness Index; R.
I = Roundness Index; A.R.D = Apparent Relative Density; S.E = Sand Equivalent.

3
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al.
unit weight measures the weight of a specific volume of graded
aggregates and monitors aggregate consistency. The coarse aggre-
gate was put into the container three times (205 ± 2 mm internal
diameter and 305 ± 2 mm height). Each time a steel rod with a
diameter of 16 mm, a length of 600 mm and a round head at one
end is used to uniformly tamp the aggregate 25 times to calculate
the dry rodded unit weight of the coarse aggregate.
In this design method, the amount of coarse aggregate (qc), fine
aggregate (qf), and volume of air voids (Vv) assumed initially. In
this study, the percentage of qc, qf and Vv was considered 65%,
31%, and 4%, respectively, based on the experience for all three
materials. The actual percentage of coarse aggregate (qc) and fine
aggregate (qf) calculate and analyzed the following Eq. (2) and
Eq. (3), respectively [25,40].
qc q qp qa
ðVCADRC  VV Þ ¼ f þ þ ð2Þ
100qsc qf qp qa
qcþ qfþ qp ¼ 100% ð3Þ
Where, qc, qf and qp are the percentage of coarse aggregate, fine
aggregate, and filler, respectively; qa is the amount of asphalt con-
tent (5% in this study); VCADRC represents dry rodded voids in the
coarse aggregate; Vv is the air voids in bituminous mixtures (4%
in this study); qf, qp represents the apparent density of fine aggre-
gate and mineral fines, respectively; and qa is the relative density of
asphalt. Using the CAVF design method, the final percentage of
coarse aggregate and fine aggregate for Limestone was 73.8% and
22.2%, for Diabase 74.4% and 21.7%, and Granite 70.6% and 25.4%,
respectively. The design gradations are presented in Fig. 1.
2.4. Test methods
The technical route of this research is shown in Fig. 2. Three
kinds of aggregates (Granite, Diabase and Limestone) having differ-
ent strength and shapes were selected. The marshall test, wheel
tracking and three-point bending beam test were carried out to
evaluate the mechanical properties of asphalt mixture. Besides,
two dimensional (2D) cross-sectional image analysis by iPAS soft-
ware was performed to explore the internal skeleton structure of
asphalt mixture.
Fig. 1. Mix design gradations by CAVF design method.
4
Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599
2.5. Marshall stability
A Marshall stability test was performed to determine the defor-
mation resistance and breaking load of Asphalt mixtures. The
material (Coarse and fine aggregate) was mixed according to
designed gradations, and the making of asphalt mixture and com-
paction was done at 180 ± 0.5 °C temperature. For the Marshall Sta-
bility test, the prepared specimens were placed in a constant
temperature water bath, which was reached a prescribed temper-
ature of 60 ± 1 °C for an isothermal conditioning time of 30 min.
The specimens were then placed in the Marshall Stability testing
machine and loaded at constant deformation of 50.8 mm/min until
the maximum deformation. The results were recorded in KN on the
Marshall Testing Machine. Marshall specimens were prepared and
tested according to the standard test method specified in ‘‘Test
Methods of Asphalt and Asphalt Mixture for Highway Engineering
(JTG E20-2011)”.
2.6. Wheel tracking test
Wheel Tracking test was performed out to evaluate the rutting
resistance of the designed Asphalt Mixture. Three testing speci-
mens were prepared for each material. The dimensions were
300  300  50 (l  w  h, mm) and compacted in the laboratory
using an automatic rolling compaction machine. The prepared
specimens were kept with mold for 24 h at average room temper-
ature for proper curing. After proper curing, testing specimens
were placed on the wheel tracking machine test bench at
60 ± 1 °C test temperature for five hours to insulate the testing
specimens. Asphalt mixtures are typical viscoelastic materials, in
which temperature affects their rutting resistance significantly
[47]. Rui et al. determined the correlation between dynamic stabil-
ity and temperature and concluded that 60 °C is the critical tem-
perature for the development of rutting in asphalt mixtures [48].
The test temperature can be adjusted between 20 and 80 °C in
the Hamburg wheel pavement analyzer, according to the Chinese
standards and conditions to perform the rutting test in China and
abroad; 60 °C was selected as test temperature [37,49]. An auto-
matic wheel tracking device was used to record the tracking defor-
mation or rutting depth. Test wheel of solid rubber tire having
dimension 200 mm in outside diameter, 50 mm in width and
15 mm in rubber thickness was travelled to and fro for about
01 h at the specimen’s center. The contact pressure of the test
wheel and sample was 0.7 MPa, and the total imposed load was
780 N (according to the Ministry of Transportation, 2000). The test
wheel’s travelling distance was 230 mm, and to and fro com-
paction speed was 42 ± 1 times/min (21 rounds-trip). The deforma-
tion time curve was obtained from the wheel tracking machine,
and Dynamic Stability was calculated using that data. The wheel
tracking test was performed according to JTG E20-2011 and
dynamic stability was calculated by using Eq. (4).
ðt2  t1 ÞxN
DS ¼ xC1 xC2 ð4Þ
d2  d1
Where DS is dynamic stability; d1is the amount of deformation cor-
responding at the time t1 (mm, at 45 min); d2 is the deformation
amount corresponding at the time t2 (mm, at 60 min); N is the
speed of test tire (42 passes/min); C1 and C2 is the coefficient of cor-
rection related to the test machine and specimen, respectively (1.0
in this study).
2.7. Three-point bending test
A three-point bending test was carried out to evaluate the
bending failure mechanical property of bituminous mixtures by
the procedure T0715-2011 of the Standard Test Methods of Asphalt
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al.
Fig. 2. Technical route of study.
and Mixtures for Highway Engineering (JTG E20-2011). Ten rectan-
gular beam specimens were prepared for each material, having a
dimension of 250  30  35 (l  w  h, mm). Testing was per-
formed at 10 ± 0.5 °C, and 0 ± 0.5 °C at a loading rate of 50 mm/
min, and all the samples were placed in a thermostatic water bath
for 01 h before testing. Flexural Tensile Strength RB, the maximum
Flexural Tensile Strain eB and the bending Stiffness Modulus SB
were calculated by using Eqs. (5), 6, and 7, respectively.
3xLxPB
RB ¼ 2
ð5Þ
2xbxh
6xhxd
eB ¼ ð6Þ
L2
RB
SB ¼ ð7Þ
eB
Where L, b, and h represents the length, width, and height of the
specimens respectively, PB is the maximum load at the time of spec-
imen failure, ‘‘d” is the mid-span deflection at the time of breakage
and SB is the bending stiffness modulus.
2.8. Digital image processing technology
Coarse aggregates transfer maximum traffic load as they define
the asphalt mixture’s skeleton, and this skeleton structure is
known as the internal structure of asphalt mixture. This structure
can be represented by using several indicators based on digital
imaging analysis. The number of contact points in the asphalt mix-
ture represents the connectivity of the internal aggregate skeleton.
The increase in contact points leads to better stress distribution
and resistance against permanent deformation [23].
The idea of ‘‘contacting pair” was proposed by Wei Hong and
concluded that the aggregate contact with each other when the
periphery of any two adjacent aggregate particles is less than a cer-
tain threshold [24]. The analysis of stone to stone contact charac-
teristic in asphalt mixture was done by using digital Image
technology. Two standard techniques are currently used based on
X-Ray CT and digital camera for the image analysis of asphalt mix-
ture. The CCD digital camera-based technology was selected
because it is more suitable according to the requirements.
While taking images by a digital camera, the resulting images
did not meet precise analysis needs due to the spatial domain’s
noise. It affects the sharpness of the image, especially the material
5
Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599
edge of the picture. The following process was performed to get
more accurate images:
The cross-section images of the cut pieces of asphalt mixtures
were collected by CCD digital camera and then by using iPAS
[24], and preliminary processing was performed (2.36 mm in this
study).
Extract the initial boundary of aggregate and binaries the image.
The selection of the contact threshold had a significant effect on
the contact points. Based on previous studies, 20–25% is reasonable
to select the minimum calculated aggregate particle size as the
contact threshold [24,26,50]. In this study, the contact threshold
was chosen 20% of the aggregate’s minimum calculated particle
size. Image analysis and processing, including the definition of con-
tact indices, are shown in Fig. 3.
In this study, two slab specimens were prepared for each mate-
rial, having 300  300  50 (l  w  t, mm), and compacted in the
laboratory by using an automatic rolling compaction machine.
Each specimen was cut using a cutting machine to get four rectan-
gular slices of dimensions 250 ± 2 mm in length, 35 ± 2 mm in
width, and 35 ± 2 mm in height. All the pictures were captured
by CCD digital camera under the same lighting conditions, and a
total of thirty-two cross-sectional photographs were taken for each
material. The 2D cross-section images were processed and ana-
lyzed in iPAS software (Image Processing Analysis System) to get
the contact points and other related data of the internal skeleton
structure [25,51].
2.9. Contact distance distribution
The contact distance threshold (CDT) value is generally set to
0.23 times the minimum calculated particle size [14,26]. In this
study, aggregates with a size of 2.36 mm were regarded as the
minimum particle to determine the CDT. Consequently, the CDT
value was set to be 0.5428 mm (0.23x2.36). The total number of
contact points N, the contact orientation to the next corresponding
contact aggregate, and the contact line were captured using iPAS
software, as shown in Fig. 4. Three indices were produced: total
contact line length (Lsum), average contact line length (Lave) and
the horizontal angle between two contact aggregates. Lsum is the
total converted length of all the contact pixels, and Lave is the aver-
age contact distance of all the contact aggregates in one section
[23]. Lave was calculated by using Eq. (8). Additionally, the inter-
locking of aggregates in asphalt mixture can be evaluated using
internal structure index (ISI) that combined contact length and
contact orientation, defined by Eq. (9) [1,21].
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al. Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599

Fig. 3. Image analysis and processing (a) Sectional Image of Granite (b) Zoomed Binary Image of Coarse Aggregate (c) Definition of Contact Indices (d) Definition of Contact
Line.

Fig. 4. Analysis of Digital Imaging Process (a) Original Image (b) Binarization of cross-section morphology (c) Number of contact points.

6
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al.
Lsum
Lave ¼
N
XN
ISI ¼ CLi  sinðai Þ
i¼1
where N is the number of contact points, CLi is the contact length of
the ith contact point, and ai is the contact orientation of the ith con-
tact point.
2.10. Grey relational analysis
Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) is generally used grey system
theory method, first introduced by Professor Deng from Huazhong
University of Science and Technology, China [52]. GRA explains the
complicated problems by integrating various performance attri-
butes value into a single value. In the GRA method, data processing
is generally required when data units are different from others.
Data pre-processing is the technique of converting the original
data sequence to an identical sequence. The data must be pre-
processed and unit less before applying the GRA to avoid incorrect
analysis results. This data processing is known as Grey relational
generation. The GRA method has no special requirements regard-
ing the sample size; also, the analysis does not have to follow
the specific rule. The factors are incorporated into the system for
evaluation and research [49]. Therefore, it is suitable for evaluating
the asphalt mixtures performance via strength, shape and skeleton
structure parameters. A detailed GRA procedure is presented in the
following four steps.
2.11. Data normalization
Two formulas were used to normalize the data, and the selec-
tion of procedure that could be used depends on the properties
of the data sequence. Eq. (10) was used for higher the better and
Eq. (11) for lower the better characteristics.
x0i ðkÞ  min x0i ðkÞ
ForHigherthebetterattribute : x ðkÞ ¼
max x0i ðkÞ  min x0i ðkÞ
0
max x0i ðkÞ  xi ðkÞ
ForLowerthebetterattribute : x ðkÞ ¼
max x0i ðkÞ  min x0i ðkÞ
Where i = 1,2,3,. . .m; k = 1,2,3,. . .n; ‘‘m” is the number of different
materials; ‘‘n” is the number of parameters; x0i (k) is the original
sequence; x*(k) is the sequence after data normalization; max
x0i (k) and min x0i (k) are the maximum and minimum values of the
original sequence, respectively.
2.12. Reference sequence
After pre-processing the data procedure, all values were scaled
between zero and one using Eqs. (10) and (11). Therefore, an alter-
native is the best choice if all of its values are nearly equal to one.
2.13. Grey relational coefficient
In this step, the grey relational coefficient was determined. It
shows the degree of grey relation between the referential sequence
and other calculated sequences [53]. Grey relational coefficient
was calculated by using Eq. (12).
Dmin þ qDmax
ni ðkÞ ¼
D0i ðkÞ þ qDmax
Where,
D0i = Deviation Sequence of the reference sequence and compa-
rability sequence
Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599
D0i ¼ jjx0 ðkÞ  xi ðkÞjj
ð8Þ
 
Dmin ¼ minminjx0 ðkÞ  xi ðkÞj
ð9Þ
 
Dmax ¼ maxmaxjx0 ðkÞ  xi ðkÞj
Where, x0* is the ‘‘k” reference sequence; xi* is the ‘‘k” comparabil-
ity sequence, and q is the coefficient that can help to distinguish
between normalized reference and comparative series. In this
study, q value was 0.5 because it offers moderate distinguishing
effect and stability [54].
2.14. Grey relational grade
Grey relational grade is the numerical measurement of similar-
ity between referential sequence and comparability sequence. The
grey relational grade values should be between zero and one. After
averaging grey relational coefficients, the grey relational grade was
calculated by using the Eq. (13).
1X n
ci ¼ n ðkÞ ð13Þ
n k¼1 i
The reference sequence x0(k) indicates the best performance
that can be achieved among comparability sequence xi(k). There-
fore, when the comparability sequence has a maximum grey rela-
tional grade with the reference sequence, it implies that the
comparability sequence is close to the reference sequence, result-
ing in the best performance [55].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of strength and shape on mechanical properties
When it comes the impact of aggregate strength and shape on
the mechanical properties of asphalt mixture, three different
ð10Þ aggregates (Granite, Diabase and Limestone) with different
strength and shape characteristics were studied. Test results of
Marshall stability, dynamic stability and bending stiffness modulus
are presented in Table 3. A Marshall stability test was carried out to
ð11Þ
evaluate the deformation resistance and a breaking load of the
bituminous mixture testing specimens. The Marshall stability and
flow values determined from the test are presented in Table 3,
which describes Granite has the maximum stability value of 8.1
kN, Diabase has the lowest value 7.01 kN, and Limestone has 7.2
kN. Granite and Limestone are weak against strength parameters,
but still, they have more Marshall stability values than Diabase.
Granite and Limestone have a more angular shape and make an
excellent skeleton structure in asphalt mixture, and Diabase aggre-
gate has a rounded shape. Previous studies [56,57] reported that
asphalt mixtures containing aggregate particles with an angular
shape show maximum aggregate structural stability. The Marshall
ratio is a ratio of Marshall stability to flow value of a Marshall sam-
ple. Based on previous studies [58], this parameter is used to relate
the stiffness of the mixtures, and the mixtures with higher Mar-
shall ratio offer more excellent resistance to permanent deforma-
tion. From Table 3 it was observed that Granite has higher
Marshall ratio of 3.15 KN/mm.
The High-temperature performance of the bituminous mixture
was assessed by the calculation of Dynamic Stability (DS). Rutting
depth (RD) was obtained by wheel tacking test data, and DS was
ð12Þ calculated using that data in Eq. (4). The test results from the wheel
tracking test are presented in Table 3, representing the average val-
ues of three tested specimens per mixture for each material. It is
seen from Table 4 that Granite has the highest DS value, 9600
passes/mm; Limestone has the lowest DS value of 6897 passes/
7
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al.
Table 3
Mechanical properties of asphalt mixture.
Material Test Result
Marshall Stability (KN) Martial Ratio (KN/mm)
Limestone 7.3 2.62
Diabase 7.1 2.63
Granite 8.1 3.15
Table 4
Results of cross-sectional image analysis.
Material No. of Contact
Granite 249
Diabase 221
Limestone 240
mm, and Diabase has the DS value of 7092 passes/mm. On the
other hand, it was observed that the Granite material shows the
lowest rutting depth of 1.28 mm, while Limestone has the highest
rut depth of 1.49 mm. The rutting curve is shown in Fig. 5, where
each line represents the average of three tested results and
observes that all materials show an almost similar trend from start
to the end of the test.
DS is a crucial index to assess the road performance for high-
temperature areas [40]. Besides, all of the three materials per-
formed very well against the high-temperature stability test.
Results are much higher than the standard requirements of 2800
passes/mm, which indicates that the design mixture and all three
materials have excellent high-temperature performance. Many
studies [40,46] have been conducted to calculate the dynamic sta-
bility of bituminous mixtures using the CAVF method, and test
results show a similar trend to those studies. The dynamic stability
order among these materials is Granite, Diabase, Limestone, and
the percentage of deformation order is Limestone, Diabase and
Granite, respectively. The three-point bending test results showed
that the granite material has a considerably higher bending stiff-
ness modulus at 10 °C and 0 °C test temperatures than the other
two materials. The low-temperature performance depends on bitu-
men’s quality; therefore, Diabase had an excellent performance at
0 °C with a rounded shape. Also, all three materials have excellent
performance at 10 °C and 0 °C, respectively.
The importance of aggregate particle characteristics, including
strength and shape, is well recognized due to its mechanical beha-
Fig. 5. Rutting curve for wheel tracking test.
Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599
Rut Depth (mm) Dynamic Stability (passes/mm) SB (MPa) 0 °C SB (MPa) 10 °C
1.49 6897 1642 149
1.39 7092 1690 145
1.28 9600 1735 195
Lsum (mm) Lave (mm) ISI (mm)
722 2.91 487
614 2.78 577
684 2.85 605
viours. The durability, workability, and interlocking between the
particles of asphalt mixture largely depend on the strength and
shape of aggregate particles. The correlation analysis between
strength (L.A and C.V) and shape (F.I and R.I) parameters with
mechanical properties including Marshall stability, dynamic stabil-
ity and bending stiffness modulus at 0 °C and 10 °C of asphalt mix-
ture are shown in Fig. 6. As can be seen from the Fig. 6, there is a
week linear relationship between strength parameters (C.V and L.
A) and the mechanical properties of the asphalt mixture. Granite
and Limestone are three times weak in strength then Diabase but
show excellent performance in asphalt mixture. Therefore, it is
concluded that C.V and L.A of aggregate particles have a minimal
influence on the performance of asphalt mixture. The results
demonstrate that shape parameters have close linear relationships
with the mechanical properties of asphalt mixture. R2 of flakiness
index for Marshall stability, dynamic stability and bending stiff-
ness modulus at 10 °C is 0.7501, 0.7904 and 0.8096, respectively.
The relationship between F.I and high-temperature stability is very
significant, which prompts us to consider the effect of aggregate
shape on the high-temperature stability of asphalt mixture when
asphalt pavement is sited in tropical and subtropical regions. The
rutting performance asphalt mixture heavily depends on the mor-
phology of the aggregate particle then the aggregate strength. The
R2 of roundness index for Marshall stability, dynamic stability and
bending stiffness modulus at 10 °C is 0.9046, 0.8621 and 0.9426,
respectively. The results indicate that R.I has a significant influence
on the performance of the asphalt mixture. The aggregate particle
with an angular shape had higher aggregate structure stability and
more resistance against rutting behaviour. Roundness index and
angularity are the key factors that affect the strength and perma-
nent deformation of asphalt mixture.
3.2. Effect of strength and shape on internal structure characterization
Each contact aggregate has a specific contact distance to the
next corresponding contact aggregates. A small contact distance
between two contact aggregates means the aggregates can transfer
and disperse the loads quickly. On the other hand, long contact dis-
tance means a wide area of mastic or air voids available, and it is
easier to produce permanent deformation or rutting in this area.
Larger Lsum means more contact points occur in the bituminous
mixture, better the connectivity of aggregate particles for stress
development, more comfortable to transfer the loads, and less per-
manent deformation. Lave is the average contact line length, which
describes the interlocking level of the asphalt mixture. A maximum
Lave means longer individual contact lines and better particle to
particle interlocking level. Contact characteristics are presented
in Table 4, indicating that Granite and Limestone had more contact
8
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al. Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599

Fig. 6. Correlation between strength and shape versus mechanical properties.

points than Diabase, which means these two materials can transfer evaluated based on contact orientations. In addition, the contact
the load without causing any permanent deformation because of orientation determined the ability to bear the load. The aggregate
more load transferring aggregate particles. The interlocking, con- skeleton needs to support the entire structure resulting in a con-
nectivity and intensity of aggregates play a significant role in load- tact angle closer to 90° to carry the load. The mechanical behaviour
ing the pavements. Contact points and contact length causes of asphalt mixture dramatically depends on the skeleton structure
various stress intensities, consequently affecting the performance stability and contact condition between aggregate particles. There-
of the asphalt mixture. In addition, the contact orientation deter- fore, the skeleton stability of aggregate significantly influences the
mined the ability to bear the load. The closer the contact direction mechanical properties and performance of the asphalt mixture
is to the axial loading, the more efficient the contact to resist the [56]. The aggregate’s excellent skeleton stability can be achieved
load. Moreover, Cai et al. concluded that the number of counts of with the angular shape or rough texture, making strong interlock-
contact points in a skeleton could not serve as a single indicator ing between aggregate particles in asphalt mixture. It is seen from
of the steady-state of the skeleton and the rheological properties
of asphalt mixture [25]. According to the results of mechanical
properties from Table 3, Granite and Limestone had more Marshall
stability and dynamic stability than Diabase because of more load
transferring contact points. At high pavement temperatures, the
role of the aggregate skeleton structure on rutting performance is
more prominent, since at such temperatures the asphalt binder
becomes less viscous. Therefore, asphalt mixtures with effective
aggregate skeletons is especially crucial to rutting performance at
high temperatures [59]. The aggregate skeleton is a crucial factor
that decides load transfer paths, and the aggregate structure inten-
sely influences the mechanical performance of the asphalt mixture.
The contact properties, orientation and distribution of aggregate
are three representative structure indices of aggregate structure.
Similarly, Granite had more dynamic stability value the Diabase
because of its excellent skeleton structure. While on the other
hand, Granite and Limestone had a longer Lsum value than Diabase,
which means better connectivity between the aggregates for stress
development, more comfortable transfer of loads, and lesser per-
manent deformation. All of the three mixtures had excellent aggre-
gate to aggregate interlocking levels. The interlocking was Fig. 7. Aggregate contact orientations.

9
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al.
Fig. 8. Contact length distribution analysis.
Table 3 that all the blends show excellent performance against
high temperature as well as low-temperature performance tests.
In conclusion, it is clear from the cross-sectional image analysis
of the internal skeleton structure that all three mixtures have bet-
ter connectivity and interlocking between aggregates. Aggregate
contact orientations are shown in Fig. 7. The contact orientations
decide the ability to bear the load. When the contact direction is
closer to the axial loading, the contact is more effective to resist
the load. The aggregate skeleton must support the entire structure
in framework gradation resulting in contact angle closer to 90° to
transfer the load. The skeleton structure will be more stable and
the aggregate would be less likely to allocate flatly when the con-
Fig. 9. Correlation between strength and shape versus internal skeleton structure.
10
Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599
tact orientation is closer to 90° [14]. It can be found from Fig. 7 that
all of the three asphalt mixtures show remarkably similar contact
orientation, proving that strength and shape do not influence con-
tact orientation.
Based on the optimal contact distance threshold (0.5483 mm),
contact pixels were obtained, and the contact lines were extracted
from the original images for analysis. Fig. 8 shows the length dis-
tribution of contact lines from changing mixtures. The line length
is distributed into five parts, 0.1–1 mm, 1–3 mm, 3–5 mm,
5–10 mm and > 10 mm, to calculate the percentage of contact line
length in each interval on the total contact length. The length of
most contact lines are in the range of 1–3 mm for Granite and
Limestone but in the range of 3–5 mm for Diabase. The weaker
the aggregate particles, the shorter the contact length intervals.
Granite and Limestone produce shorter contact lengths intervals
(0.1–1 mm and 1–3 mm) because they are three times weak in
strength then Diabase, therefore aggregate particles break down
while the compaction process and resulting in shorter contact
lengths. Reasonable roundness and angularity values ensure
required interlock friction. However, when the angularity contin-
ues to increase, the angles of aggregate will become fragile. When
the aggregate roundness continues to decrease then the aggregate
particles likely to fracture when the stress is applied to the asphalt
mixture, destroying the internal structure of the mixed system,
hence resulting in a decrease in the mechanical performance of
asphalt mixture. For 3–5 mm and 5–10 mm length intervals, Dia-
base produces more contact lengths than the other two mixtures.
In conclusion, strength parameters (C.V and L.A) significantly affect
the contact length intervals.
The correlation analysis between strength and shape parame-
ters with skeleton characteristics is shown in Fig. 9, demonstrating
that strength and shape had an excellent linear relationship with
skeleton characteristics. Two strength parameters (L.A and C.V)
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al. Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599

Fig. 10. Correlation between single skeleton indices versus mechanical properties.

and two shape parameters (F.I and R.I) were considered and five factors. If the specific element had a significant effect, the Gray
replicate tests were performed to get the average results. A total relational grade would be closer to one (1); otherwise, the grey
of 32 cross-sectional images were used to determine the contact relational grade will be closer to zero (0). Seven asphalt mixture
characteristics to get accurate skeleton structure properties. The performance indexes were used for the grey relational analysis in
value of correlation coefficients for the shape parameters this study, including three skeleton characteristics and four
(R2 = 0.9749) is higher than the strength parameters mechanical performance test results. The skeleton characteristics
(R2 = 0.8046). Therefore, the skeleton stability of the asphalt mix- were the number of contact points, total contact line length and
ture is significantly influenced by shape parameters, including the average contact length; the mechanical performance test
aggregate angularity. As shown in Fig. 10, the relationship between results include Marshall stability, dynamic stability, three-point
single skeleton indices (N, Lsum and Lave) with mechanical proper- bending beam test at 0 °C and 10 °C, respectively. Data normaliza-
ties is not significant. To better explain this relationship, the inter-
nal skeleton Index (ISI) was calculated and results are presented in
Table 4. It can be observed from Fig. 11 that ISI has an excellent lin-
ear relationship with all of the mechanical properties except Mar-
shal stability test. The R2 dynamic stability, bending stiffness
modulus at 10 °C and 0 °C is 0.9738, 0.912 and 0.9051. Therefore,
ISI is a more reasonable and comprehensive index to explore the
influence of skeleton indices on the performance of the asphalt
mixture. Two types of compaction methods were used; roller com-
pactor (RC) for dynamic stability and three-point bending test
while Marshall compactor (MC) for the Marshall stability test. Feng
et al. reported that contact characteristics primarily affected by RC
then MC [1]. In this study, RC was used to get the cross-sectional
images for digital image analysis. Therefore, marshal stability is
not influenced by ISI because it is the product of contact length
and contact orientation for each contact point.

3.3. Grey relational analysis results

Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) is the best suitable analysis for

solving complex interrelationships among multiple variables and Fig. 11. Correlation between internal skeleton Index versus mechanical properties.

11
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al. Construction and Building Materials 294 (2021) 123599

Table 5
Data normalization results by grey relational analysis.

Material Strength Shape Contact characteristics Mechanical properties

C.V L.A.A F.I R.I N Lsum Lave D.S M.S T.P.B 0 °C T.P.B 10 °C
Granite 0.034 0.000 0.000 0.464 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
Diabase 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.192 0.000 0.516 0.000
Limestone 0.000 0.069 0.375 0.250 0.679 0.648 0.583 0.000 0.100 0.000 0.080

Note: D.S = Dynamic Stability; M.S = Marshall Stability; T.P.B = Three-point Bending.

Table 6
Grey relational coefficients.

Material Strength Shape Contact Characteristics Mechanical Properties

C.V L.A.A F.I R.I N Lsum Lave D.S M.S T.P.B 0 °C T.P.B 10 °C
Granite 0.341 0.333 0.333 0.483 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
Diabase 1.000 1.000 1.000 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.333 0.382 0.333 0.508 0.333
Limestone 0.333 0.349 0.444 0.400 0.609 0.587 0.545 0.333 0.357 0.333 0.352

Table 7
Grey relational grades.

Grey relational analysis Granite Diabase Limestone

Strength on Contact Characteristics 0.772 0.535 0.422
Strength on Mechanical Properties 0.735 0.600 0.485
Shape on Contact Characteristics 0.779 0.593 0.343
Shape on Mechanical Properties 0.763 0.467 0.517
Strength and Shape on Contact Characteristics 0.803 0.482 0.370
Strength and Shape on Mechanical Properties 0.642 0.619 0.467
Overall Rank 1 2 3

tion and Grey relational coefficients are presented in Tables 5 and
6, respectively. All of the calculation procedures were simplified
with MATLAB. Results demonstrate that Granite and Limestone
had the highest grey relational coefficients than Diabase. Granite
had a grey relational coefficient are equal to one (1) in all of the
skeleton structure and mechanical performance parameters, veri-
fying that Granite had excellent mechanical performance.
To understand the influence of strength and shape parameters
on the skeleton characteristics and mechanical performance test
results individually, the grey relational grade was calculated by
Eq. 14, and the results are shown in Table 7. For the influence of
strength on contact characteristics, Granite and Diabase had a grey
relational grade of 0.772 and 0.535, respectively. Granite is a soft
material against strength parameters and has angular shape; the
aggregate particles break down while the compaction process
and produces more contact points and contact line length.
The aggregate strength and shape are the most important
parameters influencing the mechanical behavior of asphalt mix-
ture. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the individual influence
of strength and shape on the mechanical properties of the asphalt
mixture for better understanding. For the influence of strength on
mechanical properties, Granite had a higher grey relational grade
(0.735) then Diabase (0.600), showing a relatively low effect of
strength on mechanical properties. Still, the difference is minimal
because Granite had excellent high-temperature and low-
temperature stability due to its angular shape than Diabase
material.
For the effect of shape on contact characteristic and mechanical
properties, Granite had a higher grey relational grade (0.763) than
Diabase (0.467) and Limestone (0.517) because of more angular
shape and rough texture, resulting in excellent asphalt mixtures
performance. Previous studies [60,61] reported that roundness
and angularity are the key factors that affect the stability and
12
permanent deformation of asphalt mixture. In conclusion, consid-
ering the individual and the combined influence of strength and
shape on contact analysis and mechanical properties, all of three
aggregates followed the order as Granite > Diabase > Limestone.
4. Conclusions
In this work, the influence of aggregate strength (C.V and L.A)
and shape (F.I and R.I) on the performance of asphalt mixture for
three different aggregates (Granite, Diabase, and Limestone) were
studied. The high-temperature performance was assessed by
wheel tracking and Marshall tests, while the three-point bending
beam test evaluated low-temperature performance. The internal
skeleton structure of the asphalt mixture was analyzed by iPAS,
and three indices were determined: number of contact points, total
contact line length, and average contact line length. Furthermore,
the essential findings are given as follows:
There are close linear relationships between shape parameters
and mechanical properties, which indicate that shape is more
dominant on the performance of asphalt mixture. Granite had a
more angular shape and makes excellent interlocking between
aggregate particles, resulting in an excellent mechanical perfor-
mance of asphalt mixture.
There is a weak linear relationship of strength parameters with
mechanical properties because Diabase is three times stronger
than Granite and Limestone. However, still, Diabase had lower
mechanical performance proving that strength had a minimal
influence on the mechanical performance of asphalt mixture.
Based on contact structure characterization, Granite shows
more contact points (2 4 9) and Lsum (722 mm) than Limestone
and Diabase materials because of excellent interlocking between
aggregate particles due to angular shape. Strength and shape sig-
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan, K. Wu, W. Huang et al.
nificantly influences the contact length intervals but do not influ-
ence the contact orientations. The linear relationships between sin-
gle skeleton indices and mechanical properties are not very
significant. The ISI was calculated and had a significant relation-
ship with dynamic stability and flexural stiffness modulus.
Granite had a higher grey relational grade value then Diabase
and Limestone proving that Granite had excellent mechanical per-
formance based on the strength and shape parameters.
The lithology of the mineral aggregate needs to be considered.
However, the test results indicate that the influence of aggregate
shape and strength on the performance of asphalt mixture is more
important than lithology. When the aggregate shape and strength
parameters are fairly good, the influence of lithology can be
ignored to some extent.
Funding statement
This work was financially supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51878193 and 51708144).
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Hafiz Muhammad Zahid Hassan: Conceptualization, Method-
ology, Writing - original draft. Kuanghuai Wu: Funding acquisi-
tion. Wenke Huang: Resources. Sihang Chen: Investigation.
Qiran Zhang: Writing - review & editing. Jiawen Xie: Formal anal-
ysis, Investigation. Xu Cai: Conceptualization, Supervision.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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