Laboratoire sur les chaussées et matériaux bitumineux

Abstract This paper analyses the water, the degree of saturation, and the void content effects on the fatigue behaviour of hot mix asphalt (HMA) samples mixed in the laboratory. Some results on stiffness are also given. Fatigue characterization was carried out through a uniaxial tension‐compression (T‐C) test performed in a controlled‐strain mode, at 10°C and 10 Hz, on cylindrical samples. Our results show that the stiffness is not significantly affected by the water. This finding could be attributed to the short period of immersion of samples in water, low testing temperature, low void content of tested samples, and high viscosity of bitumen used. Furthermore, the fatigue resistance of HMA partially saturated with water (PSW) is lower than the one obtained for dry materials.