A pothole patching material for epoxy asphalt pavement on steel bridges: Fatigue test and numerical analysis

Various patching materials and field procedures have been studied for pothole repairing on highway asphalt pavements. However, only a few publications have focused on patching materials for epoxy asphalt pavement on steel bridge decks. Considering the requirements of steel deck pavements, a patching material was developed using a fast cure thermosetting binder and a fine gradation. Then, to evaluate the fatigue performance of patched structure, a three-point bending fatigue test was conducted on three types of composite beams under four different stress ratios. After that, the Prony series presentation of the generalized Maxwell model was used to analyze the viscoelastic response of different patched beams and the effect of viscoelastic difference. The results showed that the fatigue test performed well on exposing the vulnerable parts of patched structures. The developed patching material had a smaller dynamic modulus and performed better in fatigue resistance than commonly used epoxy asphalt mixture. Nevertheless, with the growth of viscoelastic difference between patching material and original material, the stress state on vertical patching interface becomes worse, and the interface becomes easier to fracture under cyclic load.