1. Introduction
Falling Weight Deflectometers (FWD) are increasingly being used in pavement maintenance management to determine the structural load-carrying capacity of asphalt pavements by simulating traffic loads to detect surface deflections [
1,
2]. FWDs have been widely used in assessment of the whole life cycle of pavement structures. For example, during the use of pavement, the backcalculated structural layer modulus based on the deflection basin can be compared with the initial modulus value to determine the structural bearing capacity, thus providing guidance on the best timing for preventive maintenance and the reconstruction and repair of the pavement structure [
3,
4]. Normally when performing comparative analysis of the initial modulus, it is necessary to correct the backcalculated layer’s modulus to a uniform standard temperature [
5].
Deflection is influenced by load factors (applied load size, load bearing plate size), pavement structure (pavement type, number of structural layers, thickness of each layer and structural layer modulus) and asphalt mixture temperature [
6,
7]. However, asphalt mixtures are temperature-sensitive materials, and both long-term seasonal changes and short-term daily temperature differences can lead to changes in their stiffness [
8,
9,
10]. As the temperature rises, the deflections also increase, and for the same road section, the measured deflections in summer are significantly larger than the deflections detected in winter. When using the deflections to assess the structural performance of pavement, deflections should be corrected for temperature and adjusted to the same reference temperature [
11,
12]. Then, the corrected deflection can better reflect the structural strength of the pavement by backcalculation. We refer to this temperature correction method as first-correction [
13,
14]. Usually, the deflections should be normalized at first so that other factors (humidity, asphalt layer damage, asphalt aging, etc.) have minimal influence on the deflection-temperature correction model [
15].
To better model the deflection temperature correction, an accurate representative temperature of the pavement should be obtained. The temperature of the asphalt layer varies with depth. For changes in temperature with the depth of the pavement, the temperature’s influence on the stress state is more significant when the pavement’s thickness is deeper. Usually, the temperature at a certain depth is selected to represent the asphalt layer temperature. Different researchers have different opinions on which depth to choose. Baltzer and Stubstad et al. took the temperature of the top third of the asphalt layer as the representative temperature of the asphalt layer and achieved good fitting results [
16,
17]. Noureldin et al. found that the temperature at near the center of the asphalt layer can represent the actual temperature of the entire asphalt layer [
18,
19]. Kim and Park investigated the effect of different load magnitudes on the deflection temperature correction factors and obtained a linear relationship between the deflection and the temperature in the middle asphalt layer in semi-logarithmic coordinates [
20]. These analyses are mostly based on flexible pavements. However, semi-rigid asphalt pavement is widely used in China. The temperature in the middle asphalt layer is used as a representative temperature in most of the temperature correction model studies [
13,
21].
Current asphalt pavement temperature prediction models can be divided into two categories: mathematical statistical methods and theoretical methods [
22,
23,
24,
25]. The mathematical statistical method refers to the use of the actual measured pavement temperature combined with the meteorological data at that time to determine a pavement temperature calculation formula through regression analysis. The theoretical method derives the expression of the pavement temperature through the principle of heat transfer based on the thermodynamic properties and meteorological data of the pavement material. Comparing the two methods, the mathematical statistics method is relatively simple, while the theoretical method is too complicated. Although the mathematical statistics method has certain regional characteristics, it is still effective for regions with similar climates.
In summary, modulus backcalculation based on FWD deflection is an important part of pavement structure maintenance, and an accurate backcalculation of the asphalt layer modulus is affected by the temperature-sensitive characteristics of the asphalt mixtures. However, a uniform deflection temperature correction model for semi-rigid asphalt pavements has not been fully developed.
Therefore, in this paper, in order to establish an accurate deflection temperature correction model, continuous deflection tests were performed on in-service highway asphalt pavement in different seasons, and the detected pavement temperature was recorded. Then, the representative temperature of the asphalt layer and the temperature’s effective influence distance on the deflection basin were determined. Finally, a temperature correction model of asphalt pavement deflection based on the deflection change rate was also established.
2. FWD Test
To study the deflection of asphalt pavement under FWD loads and its relationship with the road temperature, as well as to establish the temperature correction relationship of the deflections, this paper selected an in-service highway asphalt pavement with a service life of 12 years in Shanghai province and conducted FWD tests under different temperatures and seasons. The traffic volume is 499 pcu/h. The test section is a semi-rigid base asphalt pavement, and the specific structure is shown in the
Table 1.
The test section is 1.5 km long and has three lanes in total. Deflection measurement points were arranged in each lane at intervals of 20 m. The measurement points were marked to ensure that each detection was performed at the same location. In principle, the FWD test were to be conducted once a month, but if there is a large temperature difference in that month, two tests were conducted. FWD testing schematic is shown in
Figure 1a. The whole test lasted one year. The radial distance of each measurement point is 0, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 cm.
To determine the temperature distribution in the structural layer of the asphalt pavement, two temperature monitoring points were arranged in the test road section, and eight platinum thermistor sensors were embedded in each monitoring point, which were buried 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 cm away from the surface. The platinum thermistor sensors’ distribution diagram is shown in
Figure 1b. The temperature of the structural layer was observed throughout the day, with temperature data being collected every 5 min and the prevailing air temperature being recorded at the same time.