Relationships between laboratory measured HMA material and mixture properties and pavement performance at WesTrack

For years researchers and practitioners alike in the pavements and materials industry have attempted to establish relationships between laboratory measured material and mixture properties and actual pavement performance. The ultimate goal of any highway agency is to have performance related specifications, which require such relationships. This sounds simple enough, but in reality such a task is not so simple due to the extremely complex behavior of hot mix asphalt. Due to the fact that it takes many years to evaluate new materials and methodologies, the use of accelerated loading facilities such as WesTrack for evaluation purposes becomes very advantageous.; The research presented here produces multiple permanent deformation performance relationships for the WesTrack project, some of which may be extended to other environments. An attempt to develop similar fatigue performance relationships was unsuccessful due partially to the lack of fatigue distress at WesTrack to date.; Additionally, mix design and some quality control data summaries are presented for the project along with an investigation into a potential cause of the premature rutting of coarse Superpave mixes. The investigation resulted in the development of precision statements for the ASTM D5821-95 coarse aggregate angularity test method and a better understanding of the sensitivity of coarse Superpave mixtures.