SUPERPAVE PERFORMANCE GRADING (PG)
SUPERPAVE PERFORMANCE GRADING (PG)
PERFORMANCE GRADE BITUMEN, THE SUPERPAVE BINDER SPECIFICATION, AND THE SUPPORTING TEST PROCEDURES ARE PRODUCTS OF THE STRATEGIC HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM (SHRP), A 5-YEAR RESEARCH EFFORT (1987 TO 1992) WHICH TARGETED $50 MILLION FOR ASPHALT RESEARCH.
PENETRATION GRADING AND VISCOSITY GRADING ARE SOMEWHAT LIMITED IN THEIR ABILITY TO FULLY CHARACTERIZE ASPHALT BINDER FOR USE IN HMA PAVEMENT BUT SUPERPAVE PERFORMANCE GRADING (PG) TESTS AND SPECIFICATIONS ARE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO ADDRESS HMA PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS SUCH AS RUTTING, FATIGUE CRACKING, AND THERMAL CRACKING.
SUPERPAVE PERFORMANCE GRADING (PG) IS BASED ON THE IDEA THAT AN HMA ASPHALT BINDER’S PROPERTIES SHOULD BE RELATED TO THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH IT IS USED. FOR ASPHALT BINDERS, THIS INVOLVES EXPECTED CLIMATIC CONDITIONS AS WELL AS AGING CONSIDERATIONS. THEREFORE, THE PG SYSTEM USES A COMMON BATTERY OF TESTS (AS THE OLDER PENETRATION AND VISCOSITY GRADING SYSTEMS DO) BUT SPECIFIES THAT A PARTICULAR ASPHALT BINDER MUST PASS THESE TESTS AT SPECIFIC TEMPERATURES THAT ARE DEPENDENT UPON THE SPECIFIC CLIMATIC CONDITIONS IN THE AREA OF USE.
PG SYSTEM IS BASED ON PROJECT CLIMATE. THE STANDARD NOTATION FOR PG BINDER IS PG XX-YY WHERE XX IS THE AVERAGE-SEVEN-DAY MAXIMUM PAVEMENT DESIGN TEMPERATURE AND YY IS THE MINIMUM PAVEMENT DESIGN TEMPERATURE. ABLE 1 SHOWS HOW THE SUPERPAVE PG SYSTEM ADDRESSES SPECIFIC PENETRATION, AC, AND AR GRADING SYSTEM GENERAL LIMITATIONS.
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ANALYSIS OF SUPERPAVE PERFORMANCE GRADING (PG)
