Effects of Target Air Voids on Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Performance Tests

To test the performance of hot-mix asphalt (HMA), Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) uses volumetrics testing, which tests the air void content and voids in mineral aggregate in compacted samples, followed by balanced mix design — which uses performance tests to evaluate pavement distresses. This project aims to identify if compacted HMA specimens that are currently discarded after volumetric testing can be used in performance tests. Researchers will test volumetric specimens at 4% and 7% air void content in cracking and rutting performance tests and identify if an alternate rutting test can be used in production. Successfully using compacted volumetric specimens for performance testing may reduce the time needed to identify if an HMA mixture meets IDOT performance test criteria at the start of production.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $965,318.00
• Contract Numbers:

  R27-289

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Illinois Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Materials and Physical Research
  126 East Ash Street
  Springfield, IL  United States  62704-4766
• Managing Organizations:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Illinois Center for Transportation
  1611 Titan Drive
  Rantoul, IL  United States  61866
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory
  Urbana, IL  United States  61801-2352
• Principal Investigators:

  Al-Qadi, Imad

• Start Date: 20260501
• Expected Completion Date: 20290430
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: Research and Development

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air voids; Cracking; Hot mix asphalt; Mix design; Pavement performance; Rutting
• Subject Areas: Highways; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01988616
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Illinois Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: R27-289
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: May 1 2026 9:19AM