Using damage evaluation to assess the fatigue behaviour of cement-treated base material from laboratory and full-scale performance tests

Abstract

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Cement-treated base (CTB) has become the most popular cement-modified road-base material. This study theoretically connects understandings of CTB damage behaviour derived from laboratory and full-scale experiments using the continuum damage mechanics approach. Fatigue-life tests using four-point bending testing were performed on laboratory CTB specimens and compared to test data from full-scale fatigue testing conducted by the Australia Road Research Board. Damage evolution curves developed from both test environments were characterised and compared, resulting in three key findings: (1) damage evaluation through the normalisation technique can be reasonably used to overcome the inherently different conditions of the testing environment; (2) a significant distinction was observed in the final phase of the damage evolution curves; (3) damage evolution of field CTB can be reasonably predicted by the damage evolution of laboratory CTB specimens. Future research should investigate the effects of parent material gradation, testing method, and unforeseen factors to the damage characteristics of CTB.