On the basis of repeated creep and recovery tests, a visco-elastoplastic model of an asphalt mixture is proposed and applied to compute loading response of a flexible pavement under various temperature conditions. The solution technique of this approach is readily coupled with elasto-visco-plastic models to simulate mechanical behaviour of the base, subbase and subgrade materials. The performance of asphalt pavements can therefore be evaluated in a unified way. A code based on the finite element method is implemented on this basis. Results from a numerical simulation using the code show that the performance of asphalt pavements is closely related to the temperature profile as well as the temperature magnitude in the pavement. The influence of temperature on asphalt pavement performance can be more significant than that of the loading level or duration. In this sense, simplification of the relationship between pavement design temperature and ambient temperature without properly considering material properties and the full temperature spectrum may lead to large errors when used for performance prediction. (a).
Abstract