Energy approach for the fatigue of thermoviscoelastic materials: Application to asphalt materials in pavement surface layers

► Energy approach for getting fatigue law independent of loading mode. ► The cumulative viscoelastic dissipated energy is correlated to fatigue damage. ► Sam Carpenter finding are the basis of this research on fatigue of asphalt material. This paper focuses on a study of the dissipated energy approach according to two methods, i.e. cumulative energy and the ratio of dissipated energy. An experimental investigation has been performed, with a double shear cyclic test of asphalt material HMA 0/6 being chosen at a 10Hz frequency, 10°C and 20°C and at various force or displacement loading levels. A comparison between the two fatigue characterization methods shows that cumulative energy yields an intrinsic fatigue law that can be further developed to obtain other relations between different loading modes: displacement or force loading. Thanks to this paper, users are able to define the fatigue law in other loading-controlled modes than those introduced during the tests analyzed to identify fatigue parameters. The possibility is available to obtain a fatigue law independent of loading mode and representative of a real loading evolution in the field.