Design of High-Modulus Asphalt Concrete for the Middle Layer of Asphalt Pavement
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsLine 161: Avoid expressions such as "we believe" in a scientific paper. Please, replace with technical considerations of why the authors think the aggregates are suitable to use.
Section 2.4. The authors mention: "relevant literature and past application experiences indicate that ... " However, they do not provide references, please add some. Also, I would recommend to provide some characteristics of the modifier (chemical composition at least).
Please provide the Figure 8 in higher quality.
Figure 12: Please indicate in the caption what EVV, CVV, CP and EP mean for an easy reference to readers, or add the description before the figure is shown. Also, it is not necessary to add the box in the side, since the materials are detailed in X-axis.
I would recommend to re-write the conclusions since they are a summary or results.
Author Response
Dear reviewer：
my response to your comment is attached for your review.
Sincerely Liu
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors1. The proposed study does not contain any research element, it is rather a case study of asphalt mix design optimization. Please revise the title of the manuscript according to its content.
2. Line 62: Please revise the sentence, as it is not clear what fibers or fillers are supposed to be replaced in asphalt mixtures.
3. Line 100: The term "indoor mix design/indoor mix proportion" used by the authors in the manuscript does not provide a good understanding of what it actually means. If that is an indoor asphalt mixture preparation, please specify so.
4. In Figure 1 authors marked a density limit level. What does this parameter mean and why is it applied only to indoor mixtures?
5. Line 153: Please explain the term "mineral density". Overall, there are a lot of terms in the text of the manuscript which are used only once with no definition provided.
6. Please provide general definitions for indoor and on-site mix design. What are the differences in application and the reason for choice?
7. Line 202: Please revise the pressure value. It contains two decimal dividers.
8. Please follow the consistency in terminology for the rutting/rut test.
9. Please provide consistency in terminology bending/flexural test.
10. Please revise the title of Figure 7 for misspelling.
11. Line 345: Should it be "Gradation 1" instead of " Gradate 1"? Also, in Figures 9 and 10 the terms "Grade 1, 2, 3" are used. Are those the same as "Gradation 1,2, 3"? If so, please make sure to have consistent terminology throughout the text of the manuscript.
12. Line 378: Please provide a description of the VV parameter depicted in Figure 11.
13. Please revise the title of Figure 18. There is no mix design presented on the graph, only the sieve passing rate curves.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageMinor typos and misspellings need to be addressed.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
my response to your comment is attached for your review.
Sincerely Liu
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsTitle: Design of High Modulus Asphalt Pavement Intermediate Layer Materials
Line 28: Circular definition : ”High modulus asphalt mixture refers to a pavement material with overall high modulus, commonly used in road surfaces for heavy traffic and in high-temperature regions.”
Line 41: Maybe a typo: „Portuguese scholar J. Tramp. Engrg et al[13].” But [13] is not about portuguese scholar... And also „ Engrg et al” ???
Line 59: „France pioneered the specification for the use of high modulus modifiers in 1992.” Citation is necessary, but maybe is not about France. It is about a local standard? Later, in line 302, you mentioned some standards, but no specific informations was found.
Line 68: „ ... in producing high modulus asphalt concrete performance.” English must be improved.
Line 202: Vacuum is mentioned, but the numbers are not understandable.
Figure 13 is not cited in text.
In Figure 13 you have “Dynamic stability（times/mm).” Why times? Maybe cycles/mm?
Comments on the Quality of English Language
Some English language problems was found, small corrections are necessary.
Author Response
Dear reviewer,
my response to your comment is attached for your review.
Sincerely Liu
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsDear authors,
Thank you so much for a very detailed revision. The current manuscript is in much better shape.
During my second review, I spotted a few more details that need to be addressed:
- Line 127: In Figures 1 and 2 please clarify the parameter for both Y axes, the presentation of the units is not enough. Does the water absorption rate have a unit?
- Line 193: The authors likely meant Table 2 instead of Figure 2.
Author Response
Dear reviewer:
Thank you for your comment. It has been of great help to us. We have corrected typos and errors in the figures, and the title format of the coordinate axis in the figure is unified as follows: "The name of the physical quantity represented by the coordinate axis (unit of physical quantity)".
Sincerely Liu
