Skip to main content
ICTD 2025 Main banner
Final Program


Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Back

Pavements 2025

Pavement Design, Evaluation, Preservation, Maintenance, and Rehabilitation

Rutting Performance of Asphalt Concrete Materials

The Use of Balanced Mix Design Process With High Polymer Modified Asphalt at a Brazilian Airport

Wednesday, June 11, 2025
9:15 AM – 9:30 AM MT
Abstract: Airport pavement management is complex. Maintenance and rehabilitation activities must be done in short slot periods that require anticipated coordination with airline companies and aviators. Loads are heavy and tire pressures are high, which demands a lot from the surface wearing course of the pavement structure. The pavement network is the most important asset in the airport and represents a significant portion of the maintenance and rehabilitation budget. Therefore, it is important to develop solutions that enhance pavement performance by reducing maintenance activities and extending timing between rehabilitations to efficiently maximize runway time. The Balanced Mixture Design (BMD) approach is suitable for achieving this goal. Asphalt mixture selection through BMD offers an opportunity to incorporate pavement performance in the process. Mixtures designed by using volumetrics are evaluated in the laboratory through performance testing. Unacceptable or insufficient performing mixes are then modified to improve performance. These modifications can be as simple as volumetric adjustments or more elaborate binder replacement, gradation change or different types of binder modification. This paper presents a case study in which BMD is used to design and select a high polymer modified asphalt (HPMA) mix for a runway rehabilitation project in Brazil. Two HPMA mixtures were designed using Marshall mix design. Based on results from laboratory performance tests, the mixes were modified to improve resistance to fatigue cracking, rutting, and later in field tests, friction. At each mix design iteration, cyclic fatigue, flow number and Hamburg rutting tests were performed, followed by the viscoelastic continuum damage (VECD) analysis using the FlexPAVETM software. Comparison with conventional hot mix asphalt (HMA) and polymer modified asphalt (PMA) mixes was also done for reference. This paper presents these results and some lessons learned from the HPMA paving process.

Learning Objectives:

Attendees can expect to learn the following from this session:
  • BMD is used to design and select a high polymer modified asphalt (HPMA) mix for a runway rehabilitation project in Brazil. Two HPMA mixtures were designed using Marshall mix design.
  • Based on results from laboratory performance tests, the mixes were modified to improve resistance to fatigue cracking, rutting, and later in field tests, friction.
  • solutions that enhance pavement performance by reducing maintenance activities and extending timing between rehabilitations to efficiently maximize runway time. The Balanced Mixture Design (BMD) approach is suitable for this goal.
  • process was evaluated by the viscoelastic continuum damage (VECD) theory using the FlexPAVETM software
  • Comparison with conventional hot mix asphalt (HMA) and polymer modified asphalt (PMA) mixes was also done. The best performing mix was selected and paved