Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305

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Construction and Building Materials

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

Shear fatigue between asphalt pavement layers and its application in

design
Xuancang Wang a, Ziyuan Su a, Aimin Xu b, Aiguo Zhou c, Haitao Zhang d,⇑
a
College of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710061, China
b
Hunan Shaohuai Highway Construction Co., Ltd., Shaoyang 420001, China
c
Foshan Highway & Bridge Construction Co., Ltd., Foshan 528000, China
d
College of Civil Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

h i g h l i g h t s

Shear fatigue performance at the interface of asphalt pavement layers was investigated in this study by conducting indoor shear fatigue tests, and the
shear fatigue failure mechanism of the tack coat materials and the factors affecting the shear fatigue life were analyzed. The results clearly show that the
shear fatigue life of tack coat material is affected by stress level and temperature.
N

The relationship between N fT and TT was found to be a good power function, and the value of ‘‘m” of SBS-modification-emulsified asphalt was calculated
fT 0 0
by nonlinear fitting. Then, the temperature-modifying methods for the shear fatigue life prediction model as well as the calculation methods for the
shear fatigue equivalent temperature of asphalt pavement of interlayer materials were proposed.

The axle-load conversion method was established based on the equivalence principle of shear fatigue. The conversion coefficients (b/c) of the ESAL of the
three types of tack coat materials were calculated to be 2.43, 2.13, and 2.24. The correction coefficient (K = 95) of the materials’ actual shear fatigue life at
the interface of asphalt pavement layers was also determined.

The application results indicate that when the tensile fatigue stress and permanent deformation of asphalt pavement are used as the design standards, its
contact status at the interface of asphalt pavement layers cannot satisfy the requirements of pavement shear fatigue. Therefore, in the design of asphalt
pavement, it is recommended to add the shear fatigue stress at the interface of asphalt pavement layers as the design index.

According to the asphalt pavement mechanics analysis and study of the shear fatigue characteristics of tack coat materials, an interlayer design method
for asphalt pavement was proposed based on the shear fatigue failure at the interface of asphalt pavement layers, and this provides a scientific
foundation for the design of asphalt pavements.

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

Article history: The performance and usable life of an asphalt pavement mainly depend on the interlayer bonding state.
Received 1 September 2016 To design an asphalt pavement, tensile fatigue stress of the asphalt layer and permanent deformation of
Received in revised form 26 December 2016 the asphalt surface are commonly used as the design criteria in many countries. However, the shear fati-
Accepted 27 December 2016
gue damage at the interface of asphalt pavement layers is usually neglected; therefore, the study of shear
Available online 10 January 2017
fatigue in the interface of asphalt pavement layers and its application in design has some theoretical and
practical importance. Based on the indoor shear fatigue test carried out using tack coat materials, in this
Keywords:
study, the shear fatigue formula and prediction models of indoor shear fatigue life were established and
Asphalt pavement
Interlayer treatment
modified as per the engineering experience and actual working conditions of tack coat materials in the
Tack coat material asphalt pavement structure. Based on the material’s shear fatigue failure at the interface of asphalt pave-
Shear fatigue formula ment layers, an interlayer design method for asphalt pavement was proposed. Using the traditional
Design design method for asphalt pavement in China, the shear fatigue formula and prediction models were
applied in the design example, and the results show that it is a rational approach. The results of this study
provide a quantitative reference for the design of an asphalt pavement.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Interlayer binding conditions of an asphalt pavement

⇑ Corresponding author.
significantly affects the performance and durability of the entire
E-mail address: zht6781@163.com (H. Zhang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.12.151
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
298 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305
structure. The study of Chun and Kim on interlayer binding
conditions indicates that good interlayer binding conditions
improve the usability of the road [1]. Diverse studies in this field
also reveal that the early damage of a pavement is partially caused
by poor interlayer binding conditions. Therefore, a reasonable
design method asphalt pavement layers at the interface will play
a vital role in the performance and durability of the road [2].
During the road service, the materials for the interlayer treatment
of an asphalt pavement are applied under repeating shear stress
conditions caused by traffic loads, which may result in the shear
fatigue damage of interlayer materials [3].
According to the mechanics of materials, the fatigue damage of
materials is caused by the accumulation of minor injuries [4]. To be
specific, the minor damage to the interlayer material occurs as long
as it is under the traffic loads. Once the cumulative effect of traffic
load reaches a certain threshold, the interlayer shear stress caused
by traffic loads exceeds the interlayer shear strength of materials
[5], resulting in shear fatigue damage at the interface of asphalt
pavement layers.
In practical engineering applications, because the interlayer is
covered by a structural layer, it is difficult to observe the shear fati-
gue of the interlayer materials of asphalt pavement in the initial
stage, which may lead to the neglect of the shear fatigue damage
at the interface of asphalt pavement layers. Therefore, more atten-
tion should be paid to the study of shear fatigue properties of tack
coat materials. However, the current asphalt pavement design usu-
ally considers only the tensile fatigue stress of asphalt layer and
permanent deformation of asphalt surface as the design standards,
and only a few studies investigated the shear fatigue damage at the
interface of asphalt pavement layers. Theoretically, this may be
Table 1
Types and amount of tack coat material.
Types of tack coat material Amount (kg/m2)
Without tack coat – face and middle layers of asphalt pavement [7]. Therefore, when
SBS modification emulsified asphalt 0.5
SBS modified asphalt 0.5
High-viscosity asphalt 0.4
(a)Without tack coat
(c)SBS modified asphalt
Fig. 1. Asphalt pavement structure specimens of different tack coat materials.
responsible for some underlying problems of asphalt pavements
[6].
In this study, four types of binding state at the interface of
asphalt pavement layers were designed as follows: (i) without tack
coat, (ii) with tack coat using SBS modification of an emulsified
asphalt, (iii) with tack coat using SBS modified asphalt, and (iv)
with tack coat using a high-viscous asphalt.
Indoor shear fatigue tests were carried out using the tack coat
materials. To evaluate the shear fatigue properties and application
of different interlayer materials, the following aspects were stud-
ied: (i) shear fatigue formula and prediction model of different
interlayer materials under the standard temperature (25 °C), (ii)
temperature-modifying method of prediction model, establish-
ment of axle-load conversion method based on the equivalence
principle of shear fatigue, (iii) calculation method for the cumula-
tive number of equivalent single axle loads (ESALs) used as a
design index for the shear fatigue damage of interlayer materials
in asphalt pavement, (iv) correction coefficient of the materials’
actual shear fatigue life at the interface of asphalt pavement layers,
and (v) an interlayer design method for asphalt pavement based on
the shear fatigue failure at the interface of asphalt pavement lay-
ers. The objective of this work was to first establish a shear fatigue
formula and design index of different interlayer materials and then
apply them in asphalt pavement design. The effects of binding con-
ditions on the pavement performance and durability were also
investigated. The experimental results show that the method can
make the existing method for asphalt pavement design more prac-
tical and reasonable. Moreover, it can provide a theoretical and
practical reference for the related design task in the future.
2. Lab tests of shear fatigue between asphalt pavement layers
2.1. Test plans
The maximum shear stress occurs in the area between the sur-
conducting the indoor shear fatigue test, the shear fatigue proper-
ties of the tack coat materials at this position will be mainly inves-
tigated. Because it has been proven that emulsified and original
(b) SBS modification emulsified asphalt
(d) High-viscosity asphalt
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305 299

asphalts have poor binding properties when used as the tack coat
material [8], this part of test was omitted. In this study, four differ-
ent types of binding state at the interface of asphalt pavement lay-
ers were investigated; the types and amount of tack coat materials
used in the tests are shown in Table 1.
SMA-13 and AC-20 were used as the surface and middle layers
of asphalt pavement, respectively; therefore, the pavement struc-
ture in the test can be written as ‘‘SMA-13 + tack coat + AC-20”.
First, the asphalt pavement layer structures were produced using
different tack coat materials, and then the core specimens with a
size of u 10  10 cm were drilled using a drilling machine. The
asphalt pavement structures of different tack coat materials are
shown in Fig. 1.
First, the shear fatigue test of the test specimens was carried out
using an electro-hydraulic servo fatigue testing machine, and then
the shear fatigue performance of the tack coat materials between
the interlayers was evaluated. The shear fatigue test equipment
and force diagram of the test sample are shown in Fig. 2.
2.2. Material design
2.2.1. Design of tack coat material
The experimental results and technical specifications for differ-
ent SBS-modification-emulsified asphalt, SBS-modified asphalt,
and high-viscosity asphalt are shown in Tables 2–4.
2.2.2. Design of asphalt surface materials
The aggregate gradations of SMA-13 and AC-20 asphalt surface
materials are shown in Table 5.
Based on the results of Marshall Test, the optimum asphalt con-
tents of SMA-13 and AC-20 asphalt surface materials are shown in
Table 6.
2.3. Analysis of the results of shear fatigue tests
Prior to the shear fatigue test, a direct shear test was carried out
using test specimens with different interlayer binding states under
the standard temperature (25 °C). The shear strength of different
interlayer binding states of the tack coat materials was measured,
and the test results are shown in Table 7.
The load level of each specimen was identified based on the
shear strength (sm ) and stress levels (s=sm ) of different tack coat
materials. Then, an interlayer shear fatigue test was carried out
under the standard temperature (25 °C) to determine the shear
fatigue properties of different tack coat materials under different
stress ratios. Each tack coat material was subjected to parallel tests,
and the test results are shown in Table 8 and Fig. 3.
To study the effect of temperature on the shear fatigue proper-
ties of different tack coat materials, an interlayer shear fatigue test
was carried out using different tack coat materials under different
temperatures. The shearing stress applied on the specimen was
0.3 MPa. The test results are shown in Table 9 and Fig. 4.
Table 8 and Fig. 3 show that the shear fatigue life at the inter-
face with different interlayer binding decreased significantly with
increasing stress ratio. When the stress ratio was 0.3, except for
the exclusive tack coat, the shear fatigue life of other three tack
coat materials was >15,000 times. When the stress ratio was
increased to 0.7, the shear fatigue life of the three tack coat mate-
rials was <500 times. When the stress ratio was increased from 0.3
to 0.4, the shear fatigue life of the three tack coat materials

Specimen

τ
τ
Cohesive

(a) Test equipment (b) Test specimen’s force diagram

Fig. 2. Shear fatigue test equipment and test specimen’s force diagram.

Table 2
Technical indexes of SBS modification emulsified asphalt.

Pilot project Unit Testing value Standard

Emulsion stability velocity – Rapid setting Rapid setting
Particle charge – Cation (+) Cation (+)
Weight of screen residue (1.18 mm), not more than % 0.08 0.1
Viscosity Enge La viscosity of asphalt E25 – 6 1–10
Asphalt standard viscosity C25,3 S 12 8–25
Evaporated residue Content, not more than % 52 50
Penetration (100 g, 25 °C, 5 s) 0.1 mm 59 40–120
Softening point, not more than °C 53.5 50
Ductility (5 °C), not less than 0.1 mm 35 20
Solubility (TCE), not less than °C 98.3 97.5
Storage stability 1d, not more than % 0.5 1
5d, not more than % 1.2 5
300 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305

Table 3
Technical indexes of SBS modified asphalt.

Pilot project Unit Testing value Standard

Penetration 25 °C, 100 g, 5 s 0.1 mm 64.5 60–80
Penetration index (PI) – 0.34 P0.4
Ductility (5 °C, 5 cm/min) cm 47.2 P30
Softening point TR&B °C 83.0 P55
Flash point °C P230
Solubility % P99
Dynamic viscosity (135 °C) Pas 1.20 63
Elastic recovery (25 °C) % 91 P65
Density (15 °C) g/cm3 –
TFOT (or RTFOT) residue Quality loss % 0.2 6±1
Penetration ratio 25 °C % 70 P60
Ductility 5 °C, 5 cm/min cm 33 P20

Table 4
Technical indexes of high-viscosity asphalt.

Pilot project Unit Testing value Standard

Penetration 25 °C, 100 g, 5 s 0.1 mm 46.5 P40
Penetration index (PI) – 2.22
Ductility (10 °C, 5 cm/min) cm 56 P50
Softening point TR&B °C 82.0 P80
Flash point °C P260
Solubility % P99
Dynamic viscosity (135 °C) Pas 1.58 63
Elastic recovery (25 °C) % 28,586 P20,000
Density (15 °C) g/cm3 –
TFOT (or RTFOT) residue Quality loss % 0.15 60.6
Penetration ratio 25 °C % 76 P65

Table 5
Aggregate gradation.

HMA type Sieve size/mm

26.5 19.0 16.0 13.2 9.5 4.75 2.36 1.18 0.6 0.3 0.15 0.075
Passing percentage/%
SMA-13 100 100 100 94.8 64.3 26.7 20.2 16.0 14.0 12.6 11.0 9.7
AC-20 100 96.5 87.6 75.8 60.0 40.4 29.1 20.3 15.4 10.3 7.0 4.0

Table 6 Especially, when the temperature was set to 25 °C and 30 °C, the
Optimum asphalt content. shear fatigue life showed the most obvious difference with the
HMA type Optimum asphalt content/% value exceeding 3000 times. Notably, the shear fatigue life of
SMA-13 6.1
SBS-modification-emulsified asphalt is slightly better than that of
AC-20 4.3 the SBS-modified asphalt. When the temperature was in the range
25–30 °C, the fatigue life of SBS-modified asphalt emulsion was
60% lower than that of the former test, and the fatigue life under
Table 7 35 °C was 55.8% lower than that under 30 °C. Clearly, for a rise of
Tack coat material’s shear strength value of different interlayer bonding state. temperature of 5 °C, the fatigue life of the three tack coat materials
decreased by >50%. With the increase in temperature, the differ-
Tack coat material Maxi. shear Shear strength
strength/kN sm /MPa ence in the fatigue life of the three tack coat materials gradually
decreased.
Without tack coat 3.93 0.51
SBS modification emulsified 7.38 0.94 These test results indicate that the shear fatigue performance of
asphalt different tack coat materials decreases in the following order:
SBS modified asphalt 6.91 0.88 high-viscosity asphalt > SBS-modified asphalt > SBS-modification-
High-viscosity asphalt 7.53 0.96 emulsified asphalt.
Therefore, the shear fatigue performance of the tack coat mate-
rial is also related to its viscosity. The higher the viscosity, the bet-
decreased by >60%. Clearly, the shear fatigue life of the tack coat ter the shear fatigue performance.
materials was affected by the stress level.
Table 9 and Fig. 4 show that the shear fatigue life at the inter- 2.4. Derivation of shear fatigue formula from laboratory tests
face with different interlayer binding significantly decreased with
the increase in temperature. When the stress ratio was 0.3, the Based on the results of laboratory tests, the indoor shear fatigue
shear fatigue life of high-viscosity asphalt significantly outper- formula of different tack coat materials was derived after the data
formed the shear fatigue life of SBS-modified asphalt and SBS- analysis. A linear relationship was observed between the fatigue
modification-emulsified asphalt under different temperatures. life and stress ratio in the double-logarithmic coordinate [9]. The
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305 301

Table 8
Shear fatigue life of different tack coat material under the different stress ratio (25 °C).

Tack coat material Stress ratio (s=sm )

0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
Fatigue life/times
Without tack coat 6937 2694 896 294 91
SBS modification emulsified asphalt 17,717 6792 1536 983 268
SBS modified asphalt 19,788 4565 1420 1318 435
High-viscosity asphalt 20,091 6320 1639 1020 454

25000 3. Temperature modification of shear fatigue formula between

Without tack coat
asphalt pavement layers
20000
Fatigue life/Times

SBS modification
3.1. Modified formula
emulsified asphalt
15000 SBS modified asphalt

High-viscosity asphalt Temperature significantly affects the working status at the

10000
5000
0
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Stress ratio
Fig. 3. Fatigue life’s variation diagram of different tack coat material under the
different stress ratio (25 °C).
indoor shear fatigue formula at the interface of different tack coat
material can be expressed using Formula (1).
s relationship between N fT =N fT0 and T=T 0 can be expressed as a good
lg Nf ¼ a  b lg
sm
where lg Nf is the logarithmic fatigue life, a is the intercept of the
logarithmic curve of fatigue life, b is the slope of the logarithmic
curve of fatigue life, and lg ssm is the logarithmic stress ratio.
In this study, the standard temperature was set to 25 °C, and the
indoor shear fatigue formula of different tack coat materials below
25 °C was determined. The shear fatigue formula of other temper-
atures can be obtained using the temperature correction [10]. The
relationship between the fatigue life and stress ratio of different
tack coat materials on the logarithmic coordinate is shown in
Fig. 5.
A linear regression analysis was carried out for the logarithm
shear stress and logarithm fatigue life of three tack coat materials
below 25 °C using the SPSS19.0 data processing system. The corre-
sponding regression formula and correlation coefficients of each
tack coat material were obtained as shown in Table 10.
Fig. 5 shows a good linear relationship between the shear fati-
gue life and stress ratio of different tack coat materials on the log-
arithmic coordinate. The indoor shear fatigue life prediction model
of different tack coat materials was obtained by changing their
shear fatigue formula as shown in Table 10. When the shear stress
of tack coat material was defined, the indoor shear fatigue life of
different tack coat materials was predicted by the corresponding
forecast model.
interface of asphalt pavement layers. Therefore, temperature cor-
rections should be conducted for the standard shear fatigue life
prediction model to determine the shear fatigue life of interlayer
material under different temperatures [11,12].
0.7 For the SBS-modification-emulsified asphalt as the tack coat
material, based on the prediction model of SBS-modification-
emulsified asphalt Nf ¼ 45:2  s4:855 , it was found that the indoor
shear fatigue life is 15,616 times under the standard temperature
of 25 °C and stress ratio of 0.3. Therefore, the temperature correc-
tions should be carried out according to this result.
Curve fitting of the fatigue life of the tack coat material of SBS-
modification-emulsified asphalt under different temperatures was
conducted using the SPSS19.0 software, and it was found that the
ð1Þ
power function:

m
NfT T
¼ ð2Þ
NfT0 T0
where NfT is the shear fatigue life of the tack coat material when the
temperature is T, NfT0 is the shear fatigue life tack coat material
under the standard temperature T0, m is the temperature correction
factor of the shear fatigue life of the tack coat material.
Thus, the results of N fT =N fT0 and T=T 0 at different temperatures
are shown in Table 11.
The coefficient m was found to be 5.034 by using the SPSS
nonlinear fitting. Then, the fatigue life prediction model of SBS-
modification-emulsified asphalt after temperature correction was
obtained by substituting N f ¼ 45:2  s4:855 into Formula (2) as
shown in Formula (3). The model can be used to estimate the inter-
layer shear fatigue life of SBS-modification-emulsified asphalt at
different temperatures.

5:034
T
Nf ¼ 45:2  s4:855  ð3Þ
T0
Similarly, the temperature correction factor of an appropriate
prediction model of other tack coat materials can be calculated
in the same way.

Table 9
Fatigue life of different tack coat material under the different temperature.

Tack coat material Fatigue life/times

25 °C 30 °C 35 °C 40 °C 45 °C
Without tack coat 6555 2404 1042 486 251
SBS modification emulsified asphalt 17,588 6488 2866 1207 593
SBS modified asphalt 17,592 6974 3189 1620 891
High-viscosity asphalt 29,092 10,375 4339 2039 1048
302 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305

35000 Table 11
Calculating results of temperature correction coefficient for SBS modification
30000 Without tack coat emulsified asphalt model.
Fatigue life/Times

25000 SBS modification

Test temperature/°C N fT =N fT0 T=T 0
emulsified asphalt
20000 SBS modified asphalt 25 1.1263 1.0
High-viscosity asphalt 30 0.4155 1.2
15000 35 0.1835 1.4
10000 40 0.0773 1.6
45 0.0380 1.8
5000

0
25 30 35 40 45
According to the mean value theorem of integrals, the shear
fatigue life of a tack coat material at a certain temperature T pef is
Fig. 4. Fatigue life’s variation diagram of different tack coat material under the N pef . The fatigue damage through the corresponding number of
different temperature.
equivalent axle load Dpef is the same as Dpf in Formula (5) while
P i
4.5
satisfying the formula Dpef ¼ m i ni =N pef ; therefore, Formula (6)
SBS modification was obtained by substituting this into Formula (5).
emulsified asphalt
4.0 Pmi
lg(fatigue life)/Times

i ni
SBS modified asphalt
3.5
Npef ¼ ð6Þ
Dpf
High-viscosity asphalt
3.0 The temperature T pef satisfying Formula (6) is just the equiva-
Without tack coat lent temperature of the shear fatigue of the tack coat material of
2.5
asphalt pavement. It is assumed that a cumulative number of
2.0 equivalent axle load is evenly distributed in the entire design life
of asphalt pavement, and the horizontal shear stress of tack coat
1.5
-0.9 -0.7 -0.5 -0.3 -0.1 material does not change with temperature. The ni at the temper-
lg(shear stress)/MPa ature T i can be expressed by the distribution of frequency over the
time of tack coat temperature T i in Formula (6) as follows:
Fig. 5. Relationship between fatigue life and stress ratio of different tack coat
material. ni ¼ f i  N ð7Þ
where ni is the number of standard axle load when the temperature
3.2. Calculation of equivalent temperature
is T i , f i is the distribution frequency over the time of tack coat tem-
perature T i during the design period, N is the standard axle-load
Based on the results of experiments, the shear fatigue life of dif-
cumulative frequency of asphalt pavement during the design
ferent tack coat materials at the interface can be expressed as a
period.
function of shear stress and temperature as follows:
Therefore, Formula (7) can be written as follows:

BN
C N
1 1 Pm i
BN
Npf ¼ f ðs; TÞ ¼ AN ð4Þ ni 1 1
s T Npef ¼ Pmi i ni ¼ AN  Pm f ð8Þ
i Npf ;i
s 1  C N
i i

where AN ; BN ; C N are egression coefficients. 1

Ti
Considering the temperature distribution of asphalt pavements,
the shear stress and shear strength change with the temperature  B  C N
Meanwhile, N pef satisfies N pef ¼ AN 1s N  T 1 , and the follow-
field [13]. According to the Miner superposition principle, if the pef

ESAL is ni at a certain temperature T i , the total fatigue damage of ing result was obtained by substituting this into Formula (7).
different tack coat materials during this period can be expressed 0 1C1
N

BX f i C
m
as follows: i

T pef ¼@  C N A ð9Þ
X
mi
ni 1 1
Dpf ¼ ð5Þ Ti

i
N pf ;i
where T i is the temperature of the tack coat of asphalt pavement
where mi is the number of temperature classification, ni and Npf,i are during the design period, f i is the distribution frequency over the
the number of standard axle load and shear fatigue life when the time of tack coat temperature T i during the design period, and mi
temperature is T i . is the number of temperature classification.

Table 10
Shear fatigue equation of different tack coat material.

Tack coat material Correlation coefficient

Without tack coat Shear fatigue equation lg N f ¼ 0:174—5:074 lg s 0.987
Prediction model N f ¼ 0:7  s5:074

SBS modification emulsified asphalt Shear fatigue equation lg N f ¼ 1:655—4:855 lg s 0.925

Prediction model N f ¼ 45:2  s4:855

SBS modified asphalt Shear fatigue equation lg N f ¼ 1:775—4:259 lg s 0.906

Prediction model N f ¼ 59:6  s4:259

High-viscosity asphalt Shear fatigue equation lg N f ¼ 1:883—4:486 lg s 0.919

Prediction model N f ¼ 76:4  s4:486
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305 303

4. Application of shear fatigue formula between asphalt the ratio of interlayer shear stress under different axial loads can
pavement layers be expressed using Formula (12).

b
s1 P1
4.1. Design indexes and standards ffi ð12Þ
s2 P2
The shear fatigue life prediction model of SBS modification where s is the shear stress of asphalt pavement tack coat, MPa; P is
 5:034
emulsified asphalt is N f ¼ 45:2  s4:855  TT0 , the cumulative the Axle-load, kN; b is the shear stress conversion factor.
Moreover, from the shear fatigue test results, the relationship
number of equivalent single axle loads (ESAL) for the design lanes
between the shear fatigue life of the interlayer materials and inter-
cÞ 1t
are N ¼ 365½ð1þ
c N 1 . Therefore, the asphalt surface interlayer layer shear stress can be expressed as follows[15]:
shear fatigue design standard is.
s ¼ ANc ð13Þ
Nf P N Therefore, the ratio of shear stress under different axial loads
According to the design specification in China, based on the can be expressed using Formula (14).
design standards, i.e., the asphalt pavement surface deflection
c
c
s1 A1 Nc1 N1 N2
and tensile stress of layer, the interlayer shear fatigue index of ¼ 1
¼ ¼ ð14Þ
asphalt surface was added as the design standard in this project.
s2 A2 Nc2
2
N2 N1
The experimental results will be applied in the case of SBS- where N is the frequency of fatigue effects; c is the index of fatigue
modification-emulsified asphalt as the tack coat material. equation.
The shear fatigue life prediction model of SBS-modification- According to the principle of equivalent axle-load conversion
emulsified asphalt is N f ¼ 45:2  s4:855  ðT=T 0 Þ5:034 . The calcula- based on the shear fatigue damage of interlayer materials, the
tion method of the accumulative number of ESALs for the design axle-load conversion formula (15) was obtained by combining for-
lanes is similar to that of N in the ‘‘Specifications for Design of mulas (12) and (14) based on the interlayer shear fatigue.
Highway Asphalt Pavement” [14]. However, there are two differ-
bc
ences: 1. The fatigue conversion index is different. 2. The calcula- N1 P2
¼ ð15Þ
tion of ESAL should include the braking reduction factor F. The N2 P1
calculation method of ESAL for the design lanes can be expressed
where b/c is the equivalent axle-load conversion factor.
as follows (Eq. (10)):
The calculation of coefficient b requires the determination of
 
ð1 þ cÞt  1  365 shear stress under different axle loads; the calculated maximum
N¼ N1  F ð10Þ shearing stress of the interlayer under different axle loads is shown
c in Table 12. Therefore, the calculation results of b are shown in
where N is the accumulative number of ESAL for the design lanes, Table 13.
Times; t is the design cycle, year; c is the average annual growth The index c was determined from the indoor shear fatigue life
rate of traffic volume,%. N1 is the average daily ESAL in the design prediction model of the tack coat material as follows:
lane in the first year, times/d; F is the brake reduction factor for 1
the design roads. For special roads, select 0.1; for general roads, C¼ ð16Þ
n
select 0.05.
where n is the slope of the logarithmic curve of fatigue life.
The interlayer shear fatigue design criterion of the asphalt sur-
Therefore, the calculation results of the ESAL conversion factor
face can be expressed as follows:
b/c of different tack coat materials are shown in Table 14.
Nf  N ð11Þ To make the axle-load conversion result safe, b/c = 2.5 was
selected as the equivalent axle-load conversion factor of the tack
coat material based on the interlayer shear fatigue.
4.2. Axle-load conversion formula based on interlayer shear fatigue
4.3. Determination of shear fatigue life for different materials used in
The BZZ-100 (For the standard axle loads in China, the vertical the treatment of layers
load is 100 kN, and the horizontal force coefficient f is 0.3) was
used as a standard axle load, which is an axle-load conversion Considering the differences between the test results of the
based on the shear fatigue. According to the theory of elasticity, indoor shear fatigue and the actual fatigue life of tack coat material

Table 12
Maximum shear stress of interlayer under different axle load.

Axle load/kN Horizontal force/kN Max. shearing stress/MPa Axle load/kN Horizontal force/kN Max. shearing stress/MPa
100 7.5 0.276 160 12.0 0.351
120 9.0 0.303 180 13.5 0.369
140 10.5 0.326 200 15.0 0.387

Table 13
Calculation results of b (BZZ-100).

Axle load ratio Stress ratio b Axle load ratio Stress ratio b
1.0 1.0 – 1.6 1.270 0.509
1.2 1.097 0.510 1.8 1.337 0.494
1.4 1.182 0.498 2.0 1.403 0.489
Average of b is 0.50
304 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305

Table 14
Shear fatigue equation of different tack coat material.

Tack coat material b n c b/c

SBS modification emulsified asphalt 0.50 4.855 0.206 2.43
SBS modified asphalt 0.50 4.259 0.235 2.13
High-viscosity asphalt 0.50 4.486 0.223 2.24

Table 15 [16], the estimation of indoor shear fatigue life cannot be applied
Different tack coat material’s fatigue life based on shear fatigue failure (Standard directly. By modifying the indoor shear fatigue life prediction
temperature). model of the tack coat material, the fatigue life of actual tack coat
Actual fatigue life/106 Indoor fatigue material was estimated.
times life/times Considering the difference between the test results of indoor
Without tack coat 0.56–0.69 6937 shear fatigue and the fatigue life of actual adhesive layer material,
SBS modification emulsified 0.86–1.37 17,717 the indoor fatigue formula was modified in this study. Referring to
asphalt the interlayer shear fatigue life of Huaihua beltway road test sec-
SBS modified asphalt 0.99–2.17 19,788 tions in Hunan Province shown in Table 15 and considering the
High-viscosity asphalt 1.27–2.98 20,091
actual working conditions of asphalt pavement of tack coat mate-
rial, it is recommended that the indoor shear fatigue life of 95
times should be used as the actual shear fatigue life of asphalt
pavement of tack coat material.

Table 16
Traffic composition and traffic volume. 4.4. Design example

Vehicle types Representative vehicle Traffic volume (times/d)

The Huaihua beltway road in Hunan Province has two ways and
Minibus Santana 2000 2280 four lanes; the traffic volume of the first running year is shown in
Medium bus Jianghuai AL6600 220
Table 16. The calculation method for ESAL is shown in Table 17.
Motor bus Huanghai DD680 450
Light truck Beijing BJ130 260 The design life of the road is 12 years, and the average annual
Medium truck Dongfeng EQ140 660 growth rate of traffic volume is 6%.
Heavy truck Huanghe JN163 868 According to the actual shear fatigue life prediction models of
Articulated trailer Dongfeng SP9250 330 different tack coat materials, the corresponding shear fatigue life
can be predicted. The results are shown in Table 18.

Table 17
Calculating results of ESAL.

P i /kN C1 C2 ni  4:35  2:5

Pi Pi
C 1 C 2 ni P C 1 C 2 ni P

Beijing BJ130 Front axle 13.4 1 6.4 260 0.265 10.937

Rear axle 27.4 1 1 260 0.932 10.218
Dongfeng EQ140 Front axle 23.6 1 6.4 660 7.905 114.289
Rear axle 69.3 1 1 660 133.885 263.862
Dongfeng SP9250 Front axle 50.7 1 6.4 330 110.022 386.557
Rear axle 113.3 3.4 1 330 1931.492 1533.090
Huanghai DD680 Front axle 49.0 1 6.4 450 129.344 484.042
Rear axle 91.5 1 1 450 305.770 360.384
Huanghe JN163 Front axle 58.6 1 6.4 868 543.318 1460.306
Rear axle 114.0 1 1 868 1534.814 1204.431
Jianghuai AL6600 Front axle 17.0 1 6.4 220 0.632 16.777
Rear axle 26.5 1 1 220 0.682 7.953
Conversion method Deflection and tensile stress of asphalt layer Interlayer shear stress
ESAL/104 times 1447 90

Table 18
Actual predicted values of shear fatigue life of different tack coat materials (Standard temperature, interlayer shear stress is 0.3 MPa).

Tack coat material Shear fatigue life prediction model Predicted values of actual Standard/
shear fatigue life/104 times 104 times
 m
Without tack coat N f ¼ 95  0:7  s5:074 
T pef 3.0 90
T0
 m
SBS modification emulsified asphalt N f ¼ 95  45:2  s4:855 
T pef 148.4
T0
 m
SBS modified asphalt N f ¼ 95  59:6  s4:259 
T pef 95.5
T0
 m
High-viscosity asphalt N f ¼ 95  76:4  s4:486 
T pef 160.9
T0
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 135 (2017) 297–305
Therefore, the interlayer shear fatigue without the tack coat and
SBS-modified asphalt cannot satisfy the requirements (3.0 < 90).
However, the interlayer shear fatigue of SBS-modification-
emulsified asphalt and high-viscosity asphalt satisfy the require-
ments (95.5 > 90, 148.4 > 90 and 160.9 > 90).
5. Conclusions
(1) Shear fatigue performance at the interface of asphalt pave-
ment layers was investigated in this study by conducting
indoor shear fatigue tests, and the shear fatigue failure
mechanism of the tack coat materials and the factors
affecting the shear fatigue life were analyzed. When the
stress ratio was increased from 0.3 to 0.4, the shear fatigue
life of the three tack coat materials decreased by >60%.
Moreover, for a rise of temperature of 5 °C, the fatigue life
of three types of tack coat material decreased by >50%. The
results clearly show that the shear fatigue life of tack coat
material is affected by stress level and temperature.
According to the linear relationship between the fatigue life
and stress ratio in a log–log coordinate frame, the indoor
shear fatigue formula and shear fatigue life prediction
model at the interface of asphalt pavement layers were
established.
(2) The relationship between N fT =N fT 0 and T=T 0 was found to be
a good power function, and the value of ‘‘m” of SBS-
modification-emulsified asphalt was calculated by nonlinear
fitting. Then, the temperature-modifying methods for the
shear fatigue life prediction model as well as the calculation
methods for the shear fatigue equivalent temperature of
asphalt pavement of interlayer materials were proposed.
(3) According to the shear fatigue test results of indoor tack coat
materials, the axle-load conversion method was established
based on the equivalence principle of shear fatigue. The con-
version coefficients (b=c) of the ESAL of the three types of
tack coat materials were calculated to be 2.43, 2.13, and
2.24. To make the axle-load conversion result safe, 2.5 was
selected as the conversion coefficient of tack coat materials
based on the interlayer shear fatigue. In summary, a calcula-
tion method for the cumulative number of ESAL was pro-
posed, making the shear fatigue damage of interlayer
materials as the design index of asphalt pavements. The cor-
rection coefficient (K = 95) of the materials’ actual shear fati-
gue life at the interface of asphalt pavement layers was also
determined.
(4) The application results indicate that when the tensile fatigue
stress and permanent deformation of asphalt pavement are
used as the design standards, its contact status at the inter-
face of asphalt pavement layers cannot satisfy the require-
ments of pavement shear fatigue. Therefore, in the design
of asphalt pavement, it is recommended to add the shear
fatigue stress at the interface of asphalt pavement layers
as the design index.
305
(5) According to the asphalt pavement mechanics analysis and
study of the shear fatigue characteristics of tack coat mate-
rials, an interlayer design method for asphalt pavement
was proposed based on the shear fatigue failure at the inter-
face of asphalt pavement layers, and this provides a scien-
tific foundation for the design of asphalt pavements. The
corresponding results have a certain theoretical and practi-
cal importance.
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully appreciate the supports from the Key
Laboratory of Road in Chang’an University and Northeast Forestry
University and the foundations for the project of Heilongjiang Traf-
fic and Transportation Department.
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