Describing the behaviour of two asphaltic surfacing materials for orthotropic steel deck bridges

The complex interaction between the materials of the different structural components of orthotropic steel deck bridges, the vehicle loading and the geometry has led to several problems. Examples are cracking and rutting of the surfacing materials and even cracking of the steel plate. Experimental and numerical evidences suggest that the response of the surfacing materials (wearing course and membrane) might not be linear. In order to get an insight into those problems, it is deemed necessary to represent the behaviour of the different materials and the geometry of the structure in a realistic way. In this contribution, a material model which was used to describe the behaviour of two typical wearing course materials for orthotropic steel deck bridges, namely mastic asphalt and guss asphalt will be presented. The parameters of the material models are obtained by utilizing information provided by the uniaxial monotonic compression and tension tests. The material models were used to simulate the response of the materials to a monotonic loading in the indirect tension test (ITT) set-up. The models were verified by successfully simulating a test (ITT), which was not used for the determination of the parameters of the material models. The verified models were then implemented into the CAPA-3D finite element system, which enabled the simulation of the response of the structure to traffic loading at different temperatures and loading speeds.