Laboratory characterization of cracking-resistance potential of asphalt mixes using overlay tester

•Reflective cracking and fatigue cracking.•Characterize and rank the cracking resistance potential of 29 different HMA mixes by Overlay Tester (OT).•Evaluate the OT test protocol’s suitability and variability.

In this study, the Overlay Tester (OT) was successfully utilized to comparatively characterize the cracking resistance potential of various hot-mix asphalt (HMA) mixes with different mix-designs and material characteristics in the laboratory, ranging from fine- to coarse-graded mixes. Due partly to their heterogeneous structure and high air void content/variability, the OT test results indicated poor laboratory cracking performance and higher variability for the open- and coarse-graded mixes. Overall, the study findings substantiated the OT’s potential to rapidly screen and discriminate between good and poor crack-resistant mixes in the laboratory, with a proposed mix pass-fail screening criteria ranging from 30 to 750 OT load cycles.