Increasing pavements durability through construction: a model for compaction design.

The overall quality and durability of asphalt pavements mainly depends on its "design", which generally includes materials selection, mix design, structural (and functional) design. In the "design" phase, less attention is generally given to the definition of the construction procedures, which somehow seem to assume a secondary importance. The selection of the most suitable rollers and their use (number of passes, vibration settings) is rarely defined before the job, and the definitive choice often depends on the contractor's available equipments and on the experience of the staff: This paper presents the result of a full-scale experimental study carried out to test the effects of different compaction procedures on the final degree of compaction of different asphalt mixes. After introducing a new variable able to represent the compaction action carried out by the roller, a relation was identified which allows to preliminary evaluate the degree of compaction of a layer when a compaction procedure is defined.