摘要: |
WesTrack is the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) test facility in Nevada for developing performance-related specifications for hot-mix asphalt pavement construction. It is also providing some of the earliest data on the performance of Superpave asphalt mixture designs under high rates of heavy truck loading. When Superpave-designed test sections placed at the track in June 1997 had very rapid rutting failures, the highway community was concerned that the mixture design and construction procedures might be missing important, but unknown, constraints. A forensic team composed of academicians, asphalt industry representatives, and State highway agency engineers was assembled to study the early failures and, if appropriate, to make recommendations for revising the Superpave procedures; this is their report. The contents of the report are the views of the forensic team itself, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Transportation or the WesTrack research team. Readers should also note that the main body of the report is the consensus of the full forensic team; several members of the team believe that the structural design of the pavement may have significantly contributed to the failures, and their minority report is included as a separate appendix. Lastly, the minority report is followed by an FHWA response to a number of the team's recommendations. |