Experimental and numerical investigation of fracture behavior of asphalt mixture under direct shear loading

•Experiment and heterogeneous simulation are combined to investigate shear fracture.•A direct shear test setup fit for asphalt mixture is designed.•Asphalt mixture exhibits obvious different fracture behaviors at different temperature.•Some internal shear fracture mechanisms are analyzed. Experiments and heterogeneous simulations are combined to investigate cracking behavior of sheared asphalt mixture. A series of direct shear tests are performed at different temperatures with a self-manufactured direct shear test setup, and then a heterogeneous fracture modeling approach based on the random aggregate generation and packing algorithm and the bilinear cohesive crack model is utilized to simulate shear fracture processes. Two kinds of fracture, the single crack type for −20 and −10°C, and the double crack type for 0 and 5°C, are observed. Some internal mechanisms are analyzed based on numerical simulations.