Laboratory investigation on fatigue performance of modified asphalt concretes considering healing

•NfNM from ASTM D7460 was used to evaluate fatigue performance instead of Nf50 from AASHTO T321-07.•Terminal Blend, which presents more storage stability than the traditional asphalt rubber, was used in it.•Healing was considered to analyze the fatigue performance.•Fatigue performance grading or analysis was conducted in 3 situations.

Modified asphalt concretes have been used in pavement widely now. Their fatigue life, which can be increased by healing effect, is one of the most important factors in mixture design, however, it is considered less in mixture design. The test in the study involves fatigue tests of 9 modified asphalt mixtures, together with two base asphalt mixtures. Fatigue performances were compared (or graded) through several four-point bending beam fatigue tests, under the same asphalt content (5%), volume design target, and high-temperature performance grading, which are the most common occurrence 3 situations in mixture design process, the results can be a guidance for selection of asphalt in engineering application. Results also demonstrates that crumb rubber and styrene–butadiene–styrene modified asphalt mixtures performed good healing effects. And a partition scatterplot based on the test results was plotted, which provides a modified asphalt mixture design guide.