Continuum Damage Mechanics-Based Fatigue Model of Asphalt Concrete

A fatigue performance prediction model of asphalt concrete is developed from a uniaxial constitutive model based on the elastic-viscoelastic correspondence principle and continuum damage mechanics through mathematical simplifications. This fatigue model has a form similar to the phenomenological tensile strain-based fatigue model. Therefore, a comparison between the new model and the phenomenological model yields that the regression coefficients in the phenomenological model are functions of viscoelastic properties of the materials, loading conditions, and damage characteristics. The experimental study on two mixtures with compound loading histories demonstrates that the fatigue model maintains all of the strengths of the constitutive model such as its accuracy and abilities to account for the effects of rate of loading, stress/strain level dependency, rest between loading cycles, and mode-of-loading on fatigue life of asphalt concrete.