Effects of Material Properties, Specimen Geometry, and Specimen Preparation Variables on Asphalt Concrete Tests for Rutting

This report presents the results of laboratory tests and analyses performed as a part of the effort by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to develop simple performance tests for asphalt concrete mix analysis and design for highway pavement applications. Three specific areas are addressed, namely: 1. The non-linearity of shape distortion (shear) properties, information required to assess the use of indirect methods to measure the shear response of asphalt mixes; 2. appropriate shape an specimen size for use in a simple performance test; and 3. comparison of mix rutting performance determined from specimens prepared using the Superpave gyratory compactor (SGC) and specimens of the same mix obtained by coring from a pavement sectio