Page 82 - Mechanics of Asphalt Microstructure and Micromechanics
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Microstructure Characterization 75
a. 3D AC
Aggregate Skeleton Structure
FIGURE 3.11 Illustration of misleading information introduced on 2D sections
(the second image is provided by Naga Shashidhar).
vectors in three orthogonal sub-spaces. This method is valid only for the axial symmet-
ric distribution. In general, the quantification of the contact normal and branch vector
distribution requires the use of 3D datasets. XCT provides a unique capability to char-
acterize these fabric quantities of a real granular system. This section presents the meth-
ods recently developed (Wang et al., 2010) to quantify the distribution of contact nor-
mal, branch vector, and particle orientation using XCT.
