Permanent deformation characterization of bituminous mixtures using laboratory tests

The permanent deformation of bituminous mixture is one of the most important distress modes observed in in-service pavements. This distress call be estimated through laboratory tests where the most common include the Wheel-Tracking Test, the Cyclic Compression Test (Uniaxial and Triaxial) and the Repeated Simple Shear Test at Constant Height (RSST-CH). The study of the reliability and accuracy of each test in predicting permanent deformation behaviour is of great importance. In this work, these tests were used to assess a typical Portuguese mixture. The results showed that all tests accurately predict permanent deformation behaviour, mainly for the mixture tested in this work. Good correlations were obtained between the different test results, making it possible to define the simpler and cheaper tests as more useful in practice.