| Summary: | The physical characteristics of aggregates (form, angularity, and texture) are
known to affect the performance of hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements. Efforts to
develop relationships between these aggregate characteristics and aggregate performance
in HMA pavements have been limited in the past due to inherent inaccuracies in the
methods used to measure these characteristics. The recently developed Aggregate
Imaging System (AIMS) offers an opportunity to accurately measure aggregate shape
characteristics allowing them to be properly related to asphalt performance.
This research focused on relating the aggregate characteristics of form,
angularity, and texture measured using AIMS to laboratory performance measurements
on a wide variety of HMA mixes. The performance of these mixes was evaluated in
three projects carried out by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the
Texas Transportation Institute (TTI). During this research, a database of the volumetric,
performance, and aggregate shape measurements for mixes used in these projects was
created. Statistical analysis was conducted to correlate HMA performance parameters to
volumetric and aggregate shape characteristics. The results show the dominant effect
that aggregate shape properties have on HMA performance.
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