Abstract Manager

It is apparent that the consequences of climate change are manifesting globally, with noticeable impacts in Canada. An increase in frequency and severity of events, such as floods, wildfires, heat waves, and extreme cold weather have become prominent in recent years. Canadian infrastructure may be compromised under these climatic extremes , if not properly designed and constructed with resilience as a factor. Flexible pavements may be particularly sensitive to extreme heat waves due to the viscoelastic properties of the asphalt binder.  Previous work has examined the impact of heat waves on pavements in Southern and Southeastern Ontario to identify the critical conditions predicted to cause the greatest increase in rutting. Pavement performance under various heat wave scenarios has been predicted using Pavement Mechanistic Empirical Design (PMED) software for a typical Ontario highway cross-section. This study seeks to expand on the previous work by also considering Northern Ontario conditions, thus better representing all of Ontario’s three geographic zones for PGAC. Furthermore, the analysis has been repeated with an increased asphalt binder grade to assess the potential for improved rutting resilience in each of the zones.  The previous study identified that heat wave return-period was of greater risk to pavement performance than heat wave intensity. Furthermore, it was identified that increasing the asphalt binder grade and increasing the total asphalt thickness were potential methods for increasing rutting resiliency, however the associated life-cycle costs are not equivalent.