Linear viscoelastic modeling for hot-poured crack sealants at low temperature

To understand the behavior of hot-poured bituminous-based crack sealants at low service temperatures and to predict their field performance, a constitutive stress-strain relationship must be described. This would allow predicting in situ crack sealant response to both thermal and traffic loading. This paper verifies the linear viscoelastic behavior of crack sealants. Ten sealants having high polymer contents were tested at -4 to -40°C using a Crack Sealant Bending Beam Rheometer (CSBBR). The convolution integral principle was used to obtain relaxation moduli from measured creep compliance data. A Prony series viscoelastic model was used to characterize mechanical behavior of crack sealant at low temperatures. The sealant's linear response was checked by implementing two conditions of linearity described by Marasteanu and Anderson. Simulation for the sealant linear viscoelastic deflection response during the loading and unloading was conducted using a three-dimensional finite-element model. This study concludes that mechanical behavior of crack sealants may be accurately described by a linear viscoelastic model at low service temperatures.