Research Partnership Between the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) and the Minnesota Department of Transportation MnROAD Facility for a Nationwide Pavement Performance Experiment

Abstract

Full-scale accelerated pavement testing (APT) has been conducted at the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) Pavement Test Track since 2000. Practical research in surface mix performance, structural pavement design, and pavement preservation has been cooperatively funded in 3-year research cycles by state departments of transportation (DOTs) located primarily in the southeastern United States (US). The Minnesota DOT’s Road Research Facility (MnROAD) has been conducting research in these same focus areas for northern states since 1994. Although the two programs have collaborated informally for many years, no formal experiments have been executed that simultaneously address the needs of both northern and southern states. The 6th research cycle at the NCAT Pavement Test Track and the 3rd phase of MnROAD research are for the first time officially connected in a nationwide study through two group experiments that are cooperatively funded by numerous state DOTs from all over the country. The objective of the preservation group (PG15) experiment is to quantify the benefit of pavement preservation on both low volume and high volume roadways. The objective of the cracking group (CG15) experiment is to identify laboratory tests that accurately predict both top-down and thermal cracking in mixes produced with diverse materials and a broad range of expected cracking susceptibilities. Construction of experimental pavements and surface treatments for these two experiments are planned for 2015 and 2016. An overview of the experiment design, constituent materials, mix designs, construction quality, baseline pavement condition measurements, and analysis methodologies are summarized in this document.