Publications
Contact Us

Project Title: Evaluation of Washington Hydraulic Fracture Test (SHRP) for D-Cracking Aggregate

Sponsored by: Illinois Transportation Research Center

Research Objectives:

• Develop a new Washington Hydraulic Fracture Test (WHFT) apparatus incorporating better features including an automated controller for the machine in order to make the results more reliable.
• Test the aggregate samples provided by ILDOT using both the old and UIC modified WHFT machines.
• Determine if the test results from the Washington Hydraulic Fracture Tests (SHRP) can be correlated with the Illinois Department of Transportation (ILDOT) modified version of AASHTO T-161, Method B, to identify aggregates that are susceptible to D-cracking.
• Recommend whether and how the Washington Hydraulic Fracture Test (SHRP) can be incorporated in ILDOT’s testing procedure for concrete aggregates.

Accomplishments:

• Twenty one different aggregate samples, with different degrees of freeze-thaw susceptibility, were tested according to the WHFT test procedure on both old and newly developed machines.
• Petrographic analysis was conducted on each aggregate sample in order to determine its air content, pore size and pore size distribution.
• The pore size distribution as well as the durability factor of all the aggregates were also determined by performing the mercury intrusion porosimeter test.
• Correlation analysis was performed on the results from the WHFT test and were compared with the freeze-thaw results.