Effects of temperature and loading rate on the compressive behaviour of CA mortar

The coupled effect of loading rate and temperature on the compressive behaviour of cement asphalt mortar (CA mortar) is investigated in this paper. The uniaxial compressive test is conducted with CA mortar subjected to three different temperatures from 5°C to 35°C and seven different loading rates in the range of 1–50 mm/min. The failure modes, experimental stress–strain relationship and compressive strength of CA mortar are obtained in this study. Based on the experimental results, it is found that CA mortar fails in a similar manner with varying temperature, while the higher loading rate leads to a more severe and quick failure of CA mortar. The shape of the stress–strain curve of CA mortar is shown to be similar at different temperatures and loading rates, but the compressive strength and peak strain varies with temperature and loading rate. According to the experimental results, the compressive strength increases with decreasing temperature and increasing loading rate up to 20 mm/min. An empirical equation to determine the compressive strength of CA mortar with respect to temperature and loading rate is proposed and verified by the experimental data.