Effect of temperature and traffic on mix-design of bituminous asphalt for railway sub-ballast layer

Abstract

A wide integrated research has been carried out to assess the suitability of bituminoumixtures as the sub-ballast layer in railways. The influence of temperature on the mechanical charateristics and thermal susceptibility of the bituminous conglomerate—which forms sub-ballast layer orailway lines—has provided the motivation for carrying out a measurement of the thermal cycles in thlayer. The evaluation of the average seasonal temperatures has proven to be well interpolated by sinusodal functions, of which characteristic parameters are determined. To expand the validity of the study different weather situations apart from Sicily, where the experiment was held, we proceeded to apply thBarber’s temperature model, used to validate pavement structures, which proved to be effective for thrailway superstructure. A reference bituminous mixture according the Italian standard was used applyinthe Superpave mix design. This article illustrates the results obtained after different simulations, followinthe evaluation of the average seasonal temperatures