Aggregate Geometrical Features and Their Influence on the Surface Properties of Asphalt Pavement

Aggregate geometrical features directly affect asphalt pavement surface properties, which further affect the resistance to skidding of a road surface. In order to establish a relationship between the aggregate geometrical features and pavement surface properties, this paper employs an aggregate geometric characteristic evaluation system (AGCES) to describe the form property, angularity, and surface texture of aggregate particles. The geometrical feature parameters of 15 different aggregates were examined by AGCES and the corresponding surface properties of asphalt pavement prepared from the mentioned aggregates were evaluated by sand patch method, 2-Dimension Image-based Texture Analysis Method (2D-ITAM) and Walking Friction Tester (WFT), respectively. The relationships between the pavement surface property parameters and the aggregate geometric characteristic parameters studied were developed by the Levenberg-Marquarat and universal global optimization (LM-UGO). The results show that the calculated geometric characteristic parameters are in agreement with traditional manual measurement results. The pavement surface properties are significantly influenced by aggregate angularity and aggregate surface texture. Regression relationships were established to predict pavement surface properties from the aggregate geometrical features.