ABSTRACT
A method of bending t e s t i n g of a s p h a l t i c mixtures and i t s importance for eva lua t ion of mixture re s i s tance to crack ing at low temperature i s presented i n the paper. No c l e a r c o r r e l a t i o n has been found between f l e x u r a l s trength and i n d i r e c t t e n s i l e s tength. The f l e x u r a l p r o p e r t i e s are more suscept ib l e to changes i n mixture composit ion than i n d i r e c t t e n s i l e s t reng th . F l e x u r a l s trength i s s u b s t a n t i a l l y dependent on deformation speed dur ing l o a d i n g . The reduced v a r i a b l e s method has been proposed for eva lua t ion of t h i s r e l a t i o n s h i p . Presen ted e f f e c t of type of mixture , content and type of bitumen, f i l l e r content , mixture compaction, content of coarse aggre gate, and elastomer a d d i t i v e s on f l e x u r a l s t rength , u l t imate s t r a i n and v i s c o e l a s t i c p r o p e r t i e s are of p r a c t i c a l va lue . I t has been found that a s p h a l t i c mixtures are nonl inear v i s c o e l a s t i c mater ia l s and a t h e o r e t i c a l model of n o n l i n e a r i t y i s presented. The bending t e s t provides data s u i t a b l e for s t r u c t u r a l a n a l y s i s of pavement s t r u c t u r e s .
