Nonlinear viscous material model

We have developed a model for estimating the parameters of viscous materials from indirect tensile tests for asphalt. This is a simple Burger nonlinear rheological two-cell model or standard model. At the same time, we begin to develop a more versatile and complex multi-cell model. The simple model is validated using experimental load-displacement results from laboratory tests: The recorded displacements are used as input values and the measured force data are simulated with the model. The optimal model parameters are estimated using the Levenberg-Marquardt method and a very good agreement between the experimental results and the model calculations is shown. However, not all parts of the model are active in the loading phase of the experiment, so we extended the validation of the model to the simulation of the relaxation behaviour. In this stage, the other model parameters are activated and the simulation results are consistent with the literature. At this stage, we have estimated the parameters only for the two-cell uniaxial model, but further work will include results for the multi-cell model.