ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: A new Dog-Bone Direct Tension Test (DBDT), and associated data reduction and interpretation procedures were developed, evaluated and proposed for obtaining fracture properties, stiffness and cracking performance of asphalt mixture. The DBDT provides advantages including the fact that the failure plane is known a priori and stress concentrations near the loading heads have a minimal effect on test results. Furthermore, DBDT specimens can be produced by simply coring each side of gyratory compacted specimens or field cores. A dual cylinder loading system was also developed to evenly load the specimen and reduce eccentric loading. 3-D finite element analysis was conducted to develop correction factors for stresses and strains to determine properties accurately using the testing system proposed. Properties obtained from the DBDT test for a reference material agreed well with published properties for that material. Results of tests on asphalt mixtures were also reasonable and consistent with expectations.
