This report describes laboratory testing of specimens taken from four new instrumented test road sections that have been built on E45 close to the Svappavaara municipality in Norrbotten County in Northern Sweden. The structures are located about 100 km north of the Arctic Circle in a climate that is characterized by long cold winters and short mild summers. The four test sections were built in a conventional manner. Each structure is about 200—250-metre-long with a central 100-metre-long part defined as the actual test section. All structures are in total 60 centimetres in thickness resting on top of a 70-centimetre-thick old existing road. The bitumen bound part of all the four structures consists of four layers; a thin surface course layer, two binder layers and a road base layer. All structures have the same wearing course, TSK 16 with a standard 160/220 penetration grade bitumen. The main difference between the structures lies in the binder as well as the two road base layers. As a part of the monitoring programme drilled asphalt specimens were taken in 2013 from the road structure and tested at VTI's material testing laboratory in Linköping. Furthermore, samples were taken from the unbound base course and tested. This report presents the test results for asphalt bound layers as well as for the unbound base course. For the bound layers the testing procedure included volumetric properties, stiffness modulus and fatigue tests for the different types of conventional and polymer modified asphalt mixtures. The tests were conducted in accordance with the Swedish or the equivalent European standards. For the unbound base course fundamental properties were estimated as well as stiffness and permanent deformation properties for different moisture contents. (Author/publisher)
Abstract