ABSTRACT
The low temperature cracks formed in the asphalt wearing courses accelerate weather and traffic related deterioration of pavement. While lowering the overall strength of pavement these cracks have a negative effect on the fatigue life of pavement. Low-temperature cracking is a distress directly related with the stiffness of asphalt mixtures, which in low temperatures become brittle and susceptible to cracking. With the increasing stiffness the thermal tensile stresses in asphalt wearing course also increase and when they exceed the tensile strength, a crack is formed. For this reason low temperature properties are a crucial parameter of asphalt mixtures. These properties may be determined in bending test. It simulates the real conditions where the pavement is exposed to both low temperature and wheel loading. The bending creep test allows for determination of rheological parameters of tested specimens (Di Benedetto et al. 2004, 2007, Judycki 1990).
