Evaluation on High-temperature Adhesion Performance of Hot-applied Sealant for Asphalt Pavement

In order to investigate the high-temperature performances of the asphalt pavement hot-applied sealant, as well as to reduce failures of the sealant pullout, the softening point test and the flow test（two existing methods for evaluating high-temperature performances） were conducted. It was found that both tests could not accurately reflect the adhesion performances of the sealant at high temperatures. For this purpose, the adhesion test for PSAT（pressure sensitive adhesive tape） has been taken as a reference to develop a device that is suitable for evaluating the adhesion performances, by modifying relevant test parameters according to the road conditions at high temperatures. Thirteen common sealants were tested in the modified adhesion test, softening point test and f low test. The experimental results show that no significant correlation（p〉0.05） exists between the adhesion value, softening point, adhesion value and flow value; while a significant correlation（p〈0.05） exists between the softening point and flow value. The modified adhesion test is efficient in distinguishing the hightemperature adhesion performances of different sealants, and can be used as a standard method for evaluating such performances.

Fractographic and Fracture Mechanical Investigations of Refractories under Different Loading Conditions

Crack initiation and propagation have been investigated under tensile and shear loading in ceramically and carbon bonded refractories.A wedge splitting test procedure and a modified shear test have been applied.Test results have been used for material characterization especially with respect to brittleness.Furthermore a microscopic fractographic test procedure was developed and applied on fractured test specimens.In order to explain brittleness dependence on structure properties correlation of fractographic and fracture mechanical results has been evaluated.Frequently brittleness reduction is achieved by a lower amount of transgranular crack propagation associated with a strength decrease while maintaining specific fracture energy unchanged.Deviations from pure linear fracture mechanics increase with decreasing brittleness and contribute to specific fracture energy.Shear specimens may show two generations of cracks,a first one initiated by tensile loads （stable propagation） and a second one by shear loads （unstable propagation）.

Advanced Measures to Characterize Mechanical Properties of Refractories

The thermomechanical modelling method is becoming an important tool nowadays for the refractory researchers, suppliers and end-users. On one hand, applications focus on the post-mortem thermomechanical analysis to interpret the occurred fitiluw phenomena of refractories in service. On the other hand, a priori investigation is very helpful for the design of refractory lining con- cepts before putting them into effect; as a result it will minimize the probability of refractory lining premature .failure and save costs for the refractory suppliers as well as for the end-users. For both investigation routines, suitable material constitutive models and testing approa- ches are of relevance. Existing material constitutive mod- els often used for refractories are the fictitious crack model acting for tensile failure, the Mohr - Coulomb or Drucker- Prager model describing shear failure, and the Norton - Bailey model representing creep. To charac- terize tbe tensile and shear fitilure of refractories at room temperatare and elevated temperatures, a wedge splitting test and a modified shear test can be applied, respectively. The creep behavior and corresponding creep parameters of refractories can be determined with an appropriate creep testing device at elevated loads. The proper appli- cation of material constitutive models and testing approa-ches allows for improving the thermo-mechanical modelling and the optimizatian of the lining design.

Testing and assessing the performance of a new warm mix asphalt with SMC

Warm mix asphalt （WMA} is a new technology which asphalt mix is produced and placed at normal temperature. It has advantages including low cost, environmentally friendly, haul-convenience, and so on. WMA has been widely tested and applied in the USA in the last decade, but it has just started in China. Recently, a new WMA using a new plastic- macromolecule-normal temperature additive, which was called ＂SMC＂ by the production company, was introduced as asphalt modifier. Based on discussing the strength forming process of this new WMA with SMC, a series of laboratory tests, including Marshall stability test （MST）, boiling test （BT）, modified immersion Marshall test （MIMT）, freeze-thaw split- ring test （FTST）, rutting test （RT）, low-temperature bending test （LTBT）, and abrasion loss test （ALT）, were conducted in this study to assess the performance of this WMA and the capability of applying it on low volume roads in China. SMC modified asphalt mixed under normal temperature is used in testing samples. It was found that this WMA product exhibited merits on its strength, which was about 6.7 kN bigger than the requirement of 5.0 kN in the JTG F40-2004, on high-temperature stability, which is about 1100 times/ram greater than the requirement of 600-1000 times/mm in the ）TG F40-2004, and on its storage stability. Based on these indicators, it is recommended that this product could be used for low volume low class roads construction. However, due to the relatively lower water resistance and low-temperature cracking resistance, this product is suggested to be applied first in the areas with warm weather and little rainfall. In order to improve the perfor- mance of this WMA with SMC, further research on this SMC asphalt modifier should be continued.

A tribute to Professor Xiru Chen Testing the Order of a Normal Mixture in Mean

There has been a rapid progress in designing valid and effective statisticalhypothesis tests for the order of a finite mixture model.In particular,EM-test forthe order of the mixture model has been developed and found effective when thecomponent distribution contains a single parameter.EM-test is found to be particularlyeffective and elegant for the order of normal mixture in both mean and variance.Theidea behind EM-test has been found widely applicable.In this paper,we investigatethe use of EM-test for the order of a finite normal mixture in the mean parameterwith equal but unknown component variances.We show that for any positive integermo≥2,the limiting distribution of the EM-test for the order of mo against the higherorder alternative is x^(5)_(m0-1).A genetic example is used to illustrate the application ofthe EM-test.

On finitemixture models

Finite mixture models are widely used in scientific investigations.Due to their non-regularity,there are many technical challenges concerning inference problems on various aspects of the finitemixture models.After decades of effort by statisticians,substantial progresses are recorded recently in characterising large sample properties of some classical inference methods when applied to finitemixture models,providing effective numerical solutions formixture model-based data analysis,and the invention of novel inference approaches.This paper aims to provide a comprehensive summary on large sample properties of some classical statistical methods and recently developed modified likelihood ratio test and EM-test for the order of the finite mixture model.The presentation de-emphasises the rigour in order to gain some insights behind some complex technical issues.The paper wishes to recommend the EM-test as the most promising approach to data analysis problems from all models with mixture structures.