Study on pre-compaction of pavement graded gravels via imaging technologies, artificial intelligent and numerical simulations

•A DEM pavement paving compaction model is developed.•Digital aggregate database is established by using imaging technology.•The aggregate database is expanded via AI method.•The paving compaction model is calibrated and then used for compaction analysis with different aggregate gradations. Pavement compaction cannot be neglected during the motorway manufacture stage because it can determine pavement service quality and durability. Concerning the compaction scenario, the paving compaction is responsible for offering the preliminary strength of the pavement. Ignoring paving compaction quality control can lead to over compaction. This paper introduces an integral system to study and simulate the paving compaction of asphalt motorways in Discrete Element Model two-dimensional (DEM2D). This method includes the whole procedure from aggregate image acquisition database establishment to the DEM2D simulation of paving compaction. To this end, this study fulfils the creation of the aggregate database applied in DEM via the Aggregate Image Measuring System (AIMS) method. In addition, the artificial intelligent (AI) technology called Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) method is proposed to expand the developed DEM aggregate database. Three different approaches are applied to calibrate the accuracy of the extended database. According to the aggregate database, the pavement paving compaction with different aggregate gradations can be simulated in DEM2D.