Traditional volumetric asphalt mix design methods do not directly evaluate cracking and rutting resistance, which may result in mixtures with inadequate field performance despite satisfying conventional volumetric requirements. Balanced Mix Design (BMD) has been introduced to address this limitation by incorporating performance testing. However, it remains unclear whether additive modification alone can recover mixtures that do not satisfy BMD criteria, or whether volumetric redesign (binder content optimization) is necessary. Therefore, this study investigated the effectiveness of additive modification before and after BMD redesign using IDEAL-CT and IDEAL-RT performance indices. Three additive systems were evaluated: SBS polymer, nano-silica, and hybrid modification. Performance threshold values for CT and RT Indices were established using a percentile-based statistical approach derived from an experimental database of 18 asphalt mixtures prepared with different aggregate gradations, filler types, and asphalt binder contents. The 25th percentile (P25) was adopted as the minimum performance criterion. The experimental program consisted of three evaluation cases. The first case investigated the ability of additives to recover initially performance-deficient mixtures before and after BMD redesign. Results showed that additive incorporation alone was insufficient to recover deficient mixtures and, in some cases, reduced cracking resistance due to excessive stiffness. However, after BMD redesign, the modified mixtures achieved balanced cracking and rutting performance above the adopted threshold values. The second case, based on a single initially compliant mixture, suggested that additives may be more effective when applied to mixtures that already satisfy performance requirements; however, this observation is preliminary and requires validation with a broader range of passing mixtures. The hybrid modification system provided the best overall balance. The third case isolated the effect of SBS polymer after BMD redesign using paired t-tests and Cohen’s d analysis. Statistical results confirmed a significant and very large positive effect of polymer modification on rutting resistance, whereas the effect on cracking resistance depended strongly on filler type. Overall, the findings indicate that additive modification cannot reliably compensate for deficient mixture design, while the combination of BMD redesign and additive modification can successfully achieve balanced performance. In addition, filler characteristics were found to play a critical role in controlling modifier effectiveness. These findings are based on a limited number of mixtures and additive combinations, and the proposed thresholds (CT ≥ 52, RT ≥ 44) should be validated using independent datasets before general application.
This paper focused on the stone matrix asphalt (SMA) technology that was developed essentially to guard against rutting distress. For this procedure, fibers play a racy role in stabilizing and preventing the drain down problem caused by the necessity of high binder content coupled with their strengthening effect. A set of specimens with cylindrical and slab shapes were fabricated by inclusions jute, polyester, and carbon fibers. For each type, three contents of 0.25%, 0.5%, and 0.75% by weight of mixture were added by lengths of 5, 7.5, and 10 mm. The prepared mixtures were tested to gain the essential pertained parameters discriminated by the values of drain down, Marshall quotient, rut depth, and dynamic stability. It
... Show MoreIn a hybrid cooling solar thermal systems , a solar collector is used to convert solar energy into heat energy in order to super heat the refrigerant leaving the compressor, and this process helps in the transformation of refrigerant state from gaseous state to the liquid state in upper two-thirds of the condenser instead of the lower two-thirds such as in the traditional air-conditioning systems and this will reduce the energy needed to run the process of cooling .In this research two systems with a capacity of 2 tons each were used, a hybrid air-conditioning system with an evacuated tubes solar collector and a traditional air-conditioning system . The refrigerant of each type was R22.The comparison was in the amou
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... Show MoreBootstrap is one of an important re-sampling technique which has given the attention of researches recently. The presence of outliers in the original data set may cause serious problem to the classical bootstrap when the percentage of outliers are higher than the original one. Many methods are proposed to overcome this problem such Dynamic Robust Bootstrap for LTS (DRBLTS) and Weighted Bootstrap with Probability (WBP). This paper try to show the accuracy of parameters estimation by comparison the results of both methods. The bias , MSE and RMSE are considered. The criterion of the accuracy is based on the RMSE value since the method that provide us RMSE value smaller than other is con
... Show MoreAmidst the changes resulting from the subject matter of expression in art. The necessity of searching for the expressive features of thought that leaves different imprints with aesthetic features and values which called for re-modifying the expressive vision of contemporary drawings. Therefore, this research has been concerned with the study of (abstract expressive features in the drawings of (Serwan Baran) and (Eric Barto) - a comparative study), and the research includes four chapters. The first chapter is devoted to explaining the research problem, its importance, need, purpose, and limits, then determining the most important terms mentioned in it. Where the research problem dealt with the subject of abstract expressive feature
... Show MoreThis research is based on the descriptive and analytical methodology. The importance of studying labor laws and labor unions in Japan between 1889 and 1946 constitutions is because Japan was out of a feudal phase, and had no idea about the factory system and industrialization in their modern sense before the Meiji era. Generally, its labor system used to be mostly familial, and the economic system was based on agriculture. This called for the enactment of legislations and laws appropriate for the coming phase in Meiji era. Thus, this paper examines the role of Meiji government in enacting labor legislations and laws when he came to power in 1896, and his new constitution in 1889 and the civil code of 1896. It further examines the way Mei
... Show MoreSince the Internet has been more widely used and more people have access to multimedia content, copyright hacking, and piracy have risen. By the use of watermarking techniques, security, asset protection, and authentication have all been made possible. In this paper, a comparison between fragile and robust watermarking techniques has been presented to benefit them in recent studies to increase the level of security of critical media. A new technique has been suggested when adding an embedded value (129) to each pixel of the cover image and representing it as a key to thwart the attacker, increase security, rise imperceptibility, and make the system faster in detecting the tamper from unauthorized users. Using the two watermarking ty
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