Evaluation on vertical vibration compaction method of ATB-30 asphalt mixture

A vertical vibration compaction method(VVCM) was proposed to simulate the practical compaction loading condition for ATB-30 physical and mechanical properties evaluation. The mechanical properties of ATB-30 by Marshall compaction(MC) method and VVCM are compared. It is obtained that the strength of the specimen by VVCM can reach 94.2% of that of the ATB-30 collected from a road construction site, while the strength of the specimen by MC method is lower than 70% of that of ATB-30 collected from a road construction site. The density of VVCM specimen is about 2% larger than that of Marshall specimen. Moreover, 1% compaction increase of ATB-30 results in at least 8.2% mechanical behavior increase. The results show that VVCM is a more reliable method for the ATB-30 mechanical properties evaluation.