BS EN 12697-24 Bituminous mixtures - Test methods for hot mix asphalt -Resistance to fatigue

1. Two-point bending test on
trapezoidal specimens
BS EN 12697-24

2. Two-point bending test
 This method characterizes the behavior of bituminous mixtures under fatigue loading with
controlled displacement by two point bending using trapezoidal shaped specimens.
 The method can be used for bituminous mixtures with a maximum aggregate size of up to
20 mm on specimens prepared in a laboratory or obtained from road layers with a thickness
of at least 40 mm.
 For a given frequency of sinusoidal displacement, the method shall be carried out on
several elements tested in a ventilated atmosphere at a controlled temperature.

3. Element Test
 An element test shall consist of:
 imposing a constant amplitude sinusoidal displacement at the head of an isosceles
trapezoidal console test piece, as shown in Figure.
 recording, during this, the change in the force at head amplitude relative to the reaction
of the test piece.
 measuring the fatigue life of the test piece when the failure criterion is achieved.
1. Force at head amplitude relative to the reaction of the test piece
2. Constant amplitude sinusoidal displacement
3. Groove in the metal base

4. Fatigue line
 The fatigue line of the mixture element tests at the different displacement amplitude levels
that the tests are carried out shall be drawn. The fatigue line shall be estimated in a bi-
logarithmic system as a linear regression of fatigue life versus amplitude levels.
conventional criteria of failure
 number of load applications, when the complex stiffness modulus has decreased to half its
initial value.

5. Equipment
 Test Machine
The test machine shall consist of a system enabling to apply a sinusoidal displacement to the
head of the specimen with a fixed frequency. The displacement shall vary less than 0.1 µm/Ν
during the test. The test machine shall be capable of applying the load to specimens at a
frequency of (25 ± 1) Hz.
 Thermostatic chamber
The thermostatic chamber shall be ventilated and capable of allowing the temperature of the
metal base of the specimens and the average temperature of the air draught at tens of
millimeters from the specimens to be fixed with an accuracy of ±1 °C throughout the duration
of the test.

6. Equipment
 Measuring equipment
 Force
Equipment for measuring the force at the head of the specimens shall measure to an accuracy of ±2%
for values ≥200 N and to an accuracy of ±2 N for values <200 N.
 Displacement
Equipment for measuring the displacements at the head of the specimens using sensors shall be
capable of measuring to an accuracy of at least ±1.5 × 10-6 m.

7. Specimen Preparation
 The specimens shall be of an isosceles trapezoidal shape, and of constant thickness as
shown in Figure , for which the dimensions are given in Table.

8. Specimen Preparation
 The specimens subject to the test shall be obtained, by sawing, from slabs made in
laboratory according to EN 12967-33, from slabs taken from road layers or from cores with
a minimum diameter of 200 mm taken from road layers. The slabs shall be of adequate
dimensions and shall have a thickness of not less than 40 mm.
 The specimens shall be stored on a flat surface protected from the sun at a temperature of
<30 °C in conditions that prevent distortion.
 The specimens shall be measured to an accuracy of 0.1 mm.

10. Embedding Check
 The specimens shall be embedded following a procedure that complies with the embedding
check procedure.
 The embedding check shall be carried out using a specimen made of aluminum alloy type
EN AW 2017T4 with a rectangular section (13.5 ± 1) mm × (30 ± 1) mm and a minimal
length of 220 mm.
 The metal specimen shall be fixed on the test machine.
 A force of about 200 N shall be applied on the top. The displacement and the strain shall
be recorded.
 The metal specimen shall be fixed on an L-shape frame made of steel of more than 80 mm
× 80 mm section.
 A force shall be applied on the top of the specimen so that the measured strain is equal to
the strain recorded on the test machine to ±1 %. The displacement shall not differ from
more than 5 %. An example of the equipment is shown Figure.

12.  Stabilization of the specimens
The specimens shall be tested after between 2 weeks and 8 weeks from the date of cutting.
 Gluing the ends
Before fitting to the test machines, each specimen shall be glued by its large base in the groove (about
2 mm deep) of a metal base having a minimum thickness of 20 mm, as shown in Fig.
 This operation shall be carried out on a gluing rig allowing the positioning of the specimen on the base to be
ensured. Glue film shall be as thin as possible.
 Alternative fitting procedures may be used provided it can be shown that no
movements take place at the base of the sample.

13. Procedure
 Preparation of the Test Equipment
The thermostatic chamber and the loading equipment shall be brought to the test temperature.
For each specimen i, the desired head displacement shall be calculated using the following
equation:
Where
Ki is the constant, relative to the maximum strain, in inverse meters (m–1)
zi is the amplitude of displacement imposed at the head of specimen i, in meters (m)
εi is the maximum relative strain of specimen i corresponding with the displacement imposed at the
head
 The specimen to be tested shall then be installed on the test machine. The adjustment of the
displacement shall be ±5 µm.
 The fatigue test shall not be started until it has been verified
that the test temperature has been achieved in the specimen

15. Carrying out the fatigue test
 The specimen i shall be moved sinusoidally at its head at the imposed displacement
amplitude ±5 µm until the failure criterion has been reached.
 Between 100 cycles and 500 cycles, the reaction forces shall be recorded to ±2 % and the
average reaction force calculated.
 The displacement zi shall be measured and εi calculated for this element test. The number
of cycles Ni at the failure criterion shall be measured with an accuracy of 300 cycles.

16. Choice of the strain
 The deformations εi shall be selected so that either
 the values are approximately regularly spaced on a logarithmic scale; or
 there are at least 3 levels of deformation, with a homogeneous number of specimens at each
level. The average values shall be approximately regularly spaced on a logarithmic scale.
 The deformations shall be such as at least one third of the element tests provide results with
N ≤ 106 and at least one third of the element tests provide results with N ≥ 106. When this
is not the case, additional element tests shall be carried out.

17. Number of element tests
 At least 18 element tests shall be used to determine the result.

18. Calculation and expression of results
 On the basis of the results representing the length of life Ni for εi chosen, the fatigue line
shall be drawn by making a linear regression between the decimal logarithms of Ni and the
decimal logarithms of εi having the following shape:
Ni is the conventional fatigue life of specimen i
a is the ordinate of the fatigue line
1/b is the slope of the fatigue line

19. Fatigue Line

20. Results
 For n results, the following shall be calculated:
 the estimation of the strain at 106 cycles