Structural Layer Coefficients of Crumb Rubber–Modified Asphalt Concrete Mixtures

Abstract

Structural layer coefficients for crumb rubber–modified (CRM) asphalt concrete mixtures were developed from the backcalculated moduli values using the falling weight deflectometer (FWD) test results on in situ pavements. Several test sections of recently built crumb rubber–modified pavements on three routes in Kansas (I-135, K-32 and US-56) were selected for this study. I-135 is a newly built asphalt pavement and the other two are gap-graded CRM overlays. Deflection data were collected with a Dynatest 8000 FWD at 21 locations at 7.5-m intervals on each test section on I-135, 22 locations on K-32, and 11 locations on US-56. For CRM asphalt mix overlays, the average surface layer coefficients from the equal mechanistic approach of analysis were found to vary between 0.11 and 0.46 with most values falling around 0.30. This indicates a lower structural layer coefficient value for the asphalt-rubber mix compared with the conventional asphalt concrete. For newly constructed CRM asphalt pavements, the structural layer coefficients varied from 0.25 to 0.48, with the average value around 0.35. These values are close to the design layer coefficient values used for conventional asphalt concrete layers. Large variabilities in computed structural layer coefficients for the rubblized jointed reinforced concrete pavement were observed. The structural layer coefficients computed for this layer varied from 0.10 to 0.35.