Minnesota Department of Transportation

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Road Research

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Orange barrels on a highway

Resilient Modulus Testing

Resilient Modulus (Mr) is a fundamental material property used to characterize unbound pavement materials. It is a measure of material stiffness and provides a mean to analyze stiffness of materials under different conditions, such as moisture, density and stress level. It is also a required input parameter to mechanistic-empirical pavement design method. Mr is typically determined through laboratory tests by measuring stiffness of a cylinder specimen subject to a cyclic axle load. Mr is defined as a ratio of applied axle deviator stress and axle recoverable strain. Learn about the MnDOT Resilient Modulus Testing Protocol and Data Quality Control Criteria.

Benefits of Mr testing

resilient modulus
  • Measure of fundamental material property
  • Dynamic load testing similar to traffic loading
  • Essential input in mechanistic-empirical pavement design

Mr summaries

Field modulus measurements

Active projects

Completed projects - not yet published

  • Hydraulic, Mechanical, and Leaching Characteristics of Recycled Materials
  • Use of Fly Ash for Construction of Bituminous Roads

Resilient Modulus Publications

Contacts