Temperature Gradient Characteristics of Rubber-Modified Asphalt Pavement Under Dramatic Cooling–Heating Cycles

The periodic changes in climatic factors cause the pavement temperature field to change significantly, resulting in fatigue damage to the pavement caused by temperature stress, and the influence depth has a critical value. To reveal the influence range and variation pattern of the rubber-modified pavement temperature field under frequent rainfall and high temperatures, based on indoor tests and the finite element model, the evolution law of different influencing factors and pavement temperature fields was determined by a single factor sensitivity analysis method. The degree of influence of each influencing factor on the pavement temperature field was analyzed using the Pearson correlation. The results showed that with different asphalt mixture initial temperatures, the road surface temperature decreased from 20 °C to 40 °C under sudden rainfall. Repeated rainfall following high temperatures induces cyclic temperature changes 30 mm below the road surface. The pavement temperature difference increased linearly with the dramatic temperature difference, and the changes in the pavement temperature field were small when the number of cycles exceeded 30. The number of cycles and cycle temperature difference were the main factors affecting the changes in the pavement temperature field under dramatic cooling–heating cycles. © 2024 by the authors.