As asphalt mix design criteria evolve beyond prescriptive to performance-based specifications, traditional limits may be challenged in the pursuit of material durability. As designers explore these limits, it is important to understand how basic design criteria ultimately affect the comfort and safety of the public who travels over these mixtures.
This study assessed the short-term functional (surface) characteristics of pavements constructed using dense-graded asphalt surface mixtures designed with the balanced mix design (BMD) methodology as compared to counterpart mixtures designed using the existing design methodology (Superpave). Another objective of this study was to establish a functional performance baseline for the Virginia Department of Transportation’s (VDOT) BMD trial mixtures constructed in the 2019 through 2021 construction seasons in terms of friction and macrotexture. This study also sought to define a potential empirical relationship to link mixture volumetric properties to the surface characteristics of asphalt mixtures in terms of macrotexture. In this effort, 52 different field projects encompassing pairs of BMD and control mixtures with service lives ranging from 0.1 to 2.8 years, were surveyed for friction, macrotexture, and pavement roughness. Descriptive statistics and parametric statistical techniques were used to identify systematic trends or differences in the functional characteristics of the pavements.
The full report can be found here.