COMPARISON OF THE USE OF THE GYRATORY COMPACTOR IN THE FRENCH MIX DESIGN METHOD AND IN SUPERPAVE LEVEL 1

The gyratory compactor has been used in France for the design of bituminous mixtures since 1975. The gyratory compactor is supplemented by the use of a wheel tracking test. The mixtures designed with this method proved to be durable and resistant to rutting, even in the South of France, although the French axle loads are very heavy (13 tons). Superpave Level 1 has recently introduced the use of the gyratory compactor for the design of bituminous mixtures, by a purely empirical, volumetric method in which the gyratory compactor is not supplemented by any other mechanical test on the mixtures. The French method is described first, the Superpave Level 1 method is briefly described, then the methods are compared, and a tentative comparison of the mixtures produced by the two methods is given.