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Browsing by Author "Huang, Yucheng"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Evaluating Pavement Response and Performance with Different Simulative Tests
    Huang, Yucheng (Virginia Tech, 2017-06-30)
    Simulative tests refer to the Full-scale accelerated pavement testing (APT) and laboratory wheel tracking testing, which are widely used for evaluation of pavement responses and performance under a controlled and accelerated damage conditions in a compressed limited time. This dissertation focuses on comparative evaluations under ALF, MMLS 3 and APA tests, in terms of rut depth, strain response, seismic stiffness, and contact stress using both experimental and numerical simulation results. Test slabs extracted from the ALF test lanes, are trafficked with the MMLS3 under comparable environmental conditions at laboratory in Virginia Tech. Some specimens were cut from the slabs for APA tests at VTRC. It is found that the monitored parameters yielded by the MMLS 3 test were comparable to the related full-scale ALF test results in terms of intrinsic material characteristics and pavement performance. The wireless sensor network based on Internet of things technology is implemented in laboratory for the MMLS 3 test, which provides a convenient solution for researchers on long-term observation and monitoring without being physically presented. The numerical simulations of ALF, MMLS 3 and APA in ABAQUS are used to supplement the investigation on the pavement response and performance under repeated moving loading. The viscoelastic-viscoplastic model is adopted to characterize rate and temperature dependent properties of asphalt mixtures. The 3D finite element models are capable of predicting the pavement response at critical locations while underestimates the rut depth because the permanent deformation induced by volumetric change cannot be represented in simulation. According to the test results, a power law function fits well for the accumulated rut depth versus number of load repetitions before the material reaches tertiary stage in MMLS 3 test. The rut depth development of APA tests exhibits a close-to-liner regression with number of load cycles after the initial 500 load repetitions. A regression model for predicting rut depth after 500 loads has a satisfying agreement with the experimental measurement. The calibrated MEPDG fatigue model can be used to estimate the allowable load repetitions in MMLS 3 trafficking. Besides, the effects of tire configuration, tire pressure, axle load amplitude, wheel load speed and temperature on pavement responses are investigated in this dissertation using the finite element model. It is concluded that MMLS 3 is an effective, economic and reliable trafficking tool to characterize rutting and fatigue performance of pavement materials with due regard to the relative structures. MMLS 3 test can be employed as the screen testing for establishing full-scale testing protocols as desired or required, which will significantly enhance economics of APT testing.
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    Fractal Analysis on Asphalt Mixture Using a Two-Dimensional Imaging Technique
    Hou, Yue; Huang, Yucheng; Sun, Fengyan; Guo, Meng (Hindawi, 2016-11-15)
    Fractal is a mathematical set that has a fractal dimension which usually exceeds its topological dimension and may be nonintegral. Since the asphalt pavement texture has limitations of randomness and self-similarity, fractal theory has been explored to quantify the asphalt pavement texture and employs good applicability in processing and analyzing the complex details of research object. In this paper, the 2D digital image of the pavement surface is measured in terms of area fractal dimension and contour fractal dimension, which are used to correlate with aggregate gradation and British Pendulum Number (BPN) value, respectively. It turns out the area fractal dimension of aggregate provides a simple way to acquire the continuous gradation of asphalt concrete sample and the contour fractal dimension is an available parameter to characterize roughness and friction of pavement surface texture.
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    Mechanical Properties of Municipal Solid Waste Incinerator (MSWI) Bottom Ash as Alternatives of Subgrade Materials
    Huang, Yucheng; Chen, Ji; Shi, Shenjie; Li, Bin; Mo, Jialin; Tang, Qiang (Hindawi, 2020-01-30)
    The rapid development of industrialization, urbanization, and population of the society augments the rising amount of municipal solid waste (MSW). With the advantage of considerably reducing mass and volume of solid wastes and generating energy, the incineration is a widely used treatment method for MSW. During the incineration process, the organic substances contained in the wastes are combusted, and the massive residues are remained. Of the incineration residues, bottom ash takes up to 80–90%, and the remainders are fly ash along with air pollution control residues. Dealing with the municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) bottom ash in a sustainable manner is the primary principle. Significantly, MSWI bottom ash has been successfully utilized in diverse beneficial applications in recent decades, especially in civil engineering applications. This paper investigates the mechanical properties and validity of MSWI bottom ash as applicable substitutes of conventional subgrade materials. For this reason, a series of direct shear and CBR tests are performed on specimens with different water contents and dry densities.
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    The State-of-the-Art Review on Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Asphalt Binder
    Qu, Xin; Wang, Dawei; Wang, Linbing; Huang, Yucheng; Hou, Yue; Oeser, Markus (Hindawi, 2018-09-03)
    Asphalt pavement has been widely used in the world. As the main components of asphalt pavement, the asphalt binder is crucial to the service performance and life of the road. In the past decades, numerous studies were conducted on technical performance, aging, and modification of the asphalt binder. With the development of modern technology, it was discovered that the microscopic properties, aging mechanism, and modification mechanism of the asphalt binder affect the macroscopic performance of asphalt pavement significantly. As a new emerging powerful numerical tool, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation has been developed to study the asphalt binder material from a micro perspective. Based on the previous studies, some average asphalt binder models, fractional asphalt binder models, aged asphalt binder models, and modifier models were proposed by many researchers, which have made remarkable progress in asphalt studies; the microproperties, aging mechanism, and modification mechanism of the asphalt binder can also be analyzed using the MD simulation. Overall, the state-of-the-art review provides a comprehensive view for the readers to better understand the development, establishment, and application of the asphalt molecular model.