Effects of high modulus asphalt binders on performance of typical asphalt pavement structures

•HMABs had higher stiffness and elasticity than neat binder.•The asphalt layer thickness could be reduced by replacing neat binder with HMABs.•Mixing temperature of HMABs can be estimated by coarse aggregate absorption method.•HMABs had lower low temperature performance grades comparing to the base binder.

Several factors related to the performance of high modulus asphalt binders (HMABs) in pavement engineering were studied: stiffness, elastic recovery, asphalt layer thickness reduction, workability and thermal cracking resistance. Results showed that HMABs had higher stiffness and elasticity than neat binder. The asphalt layers thickness could be significantly reduced by replacing neat binder with HMABs. The coarse aggregate absorption method provided reasonable means to estimate mixing temperature for HMABs. The application of HMABs where the low design temperature of the pavement is lower than −16 °C should be with caution based on the low temperature performance grades of HMABs.