基于数字图像的土、岩和混凝土内部结构定量分析和力学数值计算的研究进展

土、岩及混凝土是一种内部结构极其复杂的材料,内部细观组成和结构决定了它们在外力作用下内部应力和应变等物理场的分布状态,在很大程度上控制了它们的宏观力学响应和破坏机理和过程。自1995年以来,数字图像处理技术作为一种材料细观空间结构及几何形态的精确量测和数字表述手段快速地被应用于沥青混凝土、水泥混凝土、土和岩体材料细观结构定量分析中来。本文在研究相关文献的基础上,分析和研究了数字图像技术在土、岩及混凝土内部结构定量分析和力学数值计算中的发展过程和研究成果,内容包括:单个骨料颗粒形态特征定量分析;土、岩和混凝土内部结构定量分析;岩体结构定量分析中的应用;基于数字图像处理的土、岩和混凝土细观结构力学计算。在此基础上,本文进一步对数字图像技术在岩土领域中的应用进展及未来的发展趋势进行了探讨,认为数字图像作为一种空间分布测量手段和数字表述方法使得它具有巨大的潜力,特别是在岩土领域的纵深发展过程中,它可能实现考虑细微观结构性的岩土力学和工程分析和预测的、新的方法和理论。     

Disk-shaped compact tension test for asphalt concrete fracture

A disk-shaped compact tension (DC(T)) test has been developed as a practical method for obtaining the fracture energy of asphalt concrete. The main purpose of the development of this specimen geometry is the ability to test cylindrical cores obtained from in-place asphalt concrete pavements or gyratory-compacted specimens fabricated during the mixture design process. A suitable specimen geometry was developed using the ASTM E399 standard for compact tension testing of metals as a starting point. After finalizing the specimen geometry, a typical asphalt concrete surface mixture was tested at various temperatures and loading rates to evaluate the proposed DC(T) configuration. The variability of the fracture energy obtained from the DC(T) geometry was found to be comparable with the variability associated with other fracture tests for asphalt concrete. The ability of the test to detect changes in the fracture energy with the various testing conditions (temperature and loading rate) was the benchmark for determining the potential of using the DC(T) geometry. The test has the capability to capture the transition of asphalt concrete from a brittle material at low temperatures to a more ductile material at higher temperatures. Because testing was conducted on ungrooved specimens, special care was taken to quantify deviations of the crack path from the pure mode I crack path. An analysis of variance of test data revealed that the prototype DC(T) can detect statistical differences in fracture energy resulting for tests conducted across a useful range of test temperatures and loading rates. This specific analysis also indicated that fracture energy is not correlated to crack deviation angle. This paper also provides an overview of ongoing work integrating experimental results and observations with numerical analysis by means of a cohesive zone model tailored for asphalt concrete fracture behavior.     

Nuclear-Electron Overhauser Effect in MC800 Liquid Asphalt Solutions

Experimental results on the extrapolated ultimate enhancement factors of o-, m-, and p-xylene protons at 1.53 mT are obtained for MC800 asphalt solutions. The ultimate enhancement factors are found such as ?26.9, ?25.7, and ?11.7 for o-, m-, and p-xylene, respectively. These results show that the solvent proton Overhauser effect cannot reach the extrapolated enhancement of ?330 in the extreme narrowing case because of occurrence of small scalar interactions in addition to the dipole–dipole interactions between solvent protons and asphalt electrons. The ortho, meta, and para positions of the –CH₃ group change the nature of the interactions. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal enhancements exhibit a sensitive behavior depending on the chemical environment differing from isomer to isomer. The solvation or association of asphalt in xylene isomers at room temperature is revealed. Quantum chemical calculations for the xylene isomers with the electronic and optical properties; absorption wavelengths, excitation energy, atomic charges, dipole moment and frontier molecular orbital energies, molecular electrostatic potential; are carried out using the density functional theory (DFT) method (B3LYP) with the 6-311G(d,p) basis set by the standard Gaussian 09 software package program. The relative importance of scalar and translational dipolar interaction parameters determined in dynamic nuclear polarization experiments is explained by the electronic structure of HOMO–LUMO of the xylene isomers.     

Microwave-assisted one-pot conversion from deoiled asphalt to green fluorescent graphene quantum dots and their interfacial properties

High-quality graphene quantum dots (GQDs) were prepared through a facile route of microwave-assisted one-step mild oxidation of cheap deoiled asphalt (DOA). The as-prepared DOA-derived GQDs dissolved in water with a much smaller and thinner size than most of the reported GQDs, and luminesced bright green light by excitation of 365 nm. Furthermore, the GQDs possessed excellent properties of excitation-tuned fluorescence behavior with a high quantum yield up to 16.4%. In addition, the GQDs showed amphipathic properties and could significantly reduce the interfacial tension, which give them great potential as surfactants for asphalt emulsion.     

Spectral Analysis of Some Distillates from Asphalt Cracking and Evaluation of UTIMAC as Cracking Catalyst

This paper demonstrates the spectral analysis of some distillates obtained from asphalt cracking in the presence of a conventional expensive catalyst, i.e., HZSM‐5, and local cheap and readily available clay, i.e., UTIMAC. Each distillate was fractionated into pentane soluble (PI) and pentane insoluble (PI) fractions based on solubility in n, pentane. Both PS and PI obtained in the case of HZSM‐5 and UTIMAC were analyzed by ¹H‐NMR spectrophotometry using CDCl₃ as dissolving solvent and tetramethylsilane (TMS) as internal standard. It is evident from the profiles that both catalysts caused the generation of some peaks ascribed to methylene and methene configurations in the aliphatic region. Bands corresponding to aromatic configurations were also generated. The results indicate that the cheap local catalyst used has comparable suitability with the conventional expensive catalyst in terms of asphalt cracking.     

基于红外光谱研究沥青燃烧机理和有害气体成分分析

利用Rosemount气体分析仪和定碳炉搭建起固定床燃烧反应试验平台,通过红外光谱分析技术定量分析沥青及其胶浆在高升温速率条件下燃烧反应的有毒气态产物成分、及其释放规律。研究表明,在高升温速率、近等温条件下,沥青及胶浆的燃烧过程可近似分为活泼挥发组分析出燃烧、二次挥发析出结合残炭燃烧两个阶段,其主要气态产物为CO₂,CO,NO,NO₂及SO₂。沥青材料中活泼挥发组分含量是影响燃烧气态产物释放规律的关键因素之一,减少沥青材料中活泼挥发组分的含量可有效降低燃烧气态产物的生成、尤其是CO的产生。     

Evaluation of sound absorption capacity of asphalt mixtures

Noise generation is an environmental problem that affects human beings, animals and even plants. Several serious diseases have their development associated to the exposure of human beings to high levels of noise pressure, such as arterial hypertension, gastrointestinal changes, alterations in blood glucose and high heart rate, among others. Vehicle traffic is part of a group of noise-generating factors. Various mechanisms govern the generation and propagation of vehicle noises, which are produced mainly by motor vibration at speeds below 50 km/h and by the tire-pavement contact at speeds above 50 km/h. The noise generated by tire-pavement contact is the result of two components: aerodynamic noise (mainly related to the coating porosity), and mechanical noise (related to the coating texture). The noise generation according to these two components may be mitigated by using special asphalt mixtures. This work evaluates the sound absorption of four different types of asphalt mixtures (common dense-graded asphalt mixture, dense-graded rubberized asphalt mixture, rubberized porous coat with void volumes varying from 22% to 27%, and rubberized open-graded friction course) and the effect of granulometry and void volume of each mixture on the sound absorption coefficient. Mixture slabs were molded in a slab compactor developed by LCPC (Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées) and specimens were extracted from each one for assessing the sound absorption capacity in the laboratory. The acoustic behavior was evaluated according to standard ISO 10534-2, using impedance tubes. Results showed that sound absorption is strongly influenced by void percentage, interconnected void percentage and layer thickness.     

Calculation of the dynamic response of a viscoelastic railway structure based on a quasi-stationary approach

A semi-analytical method has been developed for computing the dynamic response of railways composed of viscoelastic layers under moving loads. One of the aims of this new approach is to be able to simulate railways incorporating asphalt materials. These materials are increasingly used or highly considered for construction projects. We have modeled the mechanical behavior of bituminous mixes with the Huet–Sayegh thermo-sensitive viscoelastic law that is specifically intended for such materials. This method, implemented in a numerical program, is based on a quasi-stationary approach, so that time is not a specific factor in the solution. The required calculation time is therefore small, for the convenience of parametric studies. The capability of this method is proved with a numerical example that provides several validation points and illustrates at the same time the temperature effect on the response of a railway including an asphalt layer.     

Microstructural modeling of asphalt concrete using a coupled moisture–mechanical constitutive relationship

The coupled effect of moisture diffusion and mechanical loading on the microstructure of asphalt concrete is studied. The traditional Continuum Damage Mechanics (CDM) framework is modified to model detrimental effects of moisture and mechanical loading. Adhesive/cohesive moisture-induced damage constitutive relationships are proposed to describe the time-dependent degradation of material properties due to moisture. X-ray two-dimensional (2D) computed tomography-imaging technique is used to construct finite element (FE) microstructural representation of a typical dense-graded asphalt concrete. After being calibrated against pull-off experiments, the proposed moisture-induced damage constitutive relationship, which is coupled to thermo-viscoelastic–viscoplastic–viscodamage mechanisms, is used to simulate the microstructure of asphalt concrete. Simulation results demonstrate that the generated 2D FE microstructural representation along with the coupled moisture–mechanical constitutive relationship can be effectively used to model the overall thermo-hygro-mechanical response of asphalt concrete.     

Developing a Durable Quiet Road Surface

Road traffic noise can have a significant impact on the quality of life for residents close to major road networks. One of the most effective measures for reducing the noise from road traffic, particularly on high-speed roads, is to ensure the use of a low noise road surface. Research on pavement construction and the measurement of its acoustic properties has shown that significant noise reductions can be achieved through the use of certain road surface types. However certain low noise road surfaces do not exhibit the desired durability associated with more traditional pavements, leading to costly and disruptive maintenance regimes.
This article looks at the mechanisms involved in tyre/road noise generation and how these interact with various road surface properties including a brief overview of some common surface types. It then goes on to explain how these concepts informed the development of an asphalt surfacing material with enhanced durability and good acoustic performance without compromising safety. Progress in testing the resulting Premium Asphalt Surfacing System (PASS) is outlined, including the completion of a successful network trial.