Zoning scheme of climatic influence for asphalt pavement in China

To understand the effect of climatic conditions on asphalt pavement in China, the weather data of 739 weather stations in 1971~2000 were analyzed, average annual accumulated temperature above 20℃, average annual accumulated rain-temperature index, average annual precipitation-freezing index and extremely low air temperature were taken as zoning indices, average daily solar radiation was taken as describing index, the spatial distributions of the indices were analyzed by using Kriging and Cokriging method, and with the methods of cluster analysis, indices division and maps overlay, a climatic zoning scheme was proposed which included 8 first level regions and 39 second level regions. Low temperature and precipitation in low temperature term are main factors impacting asphalt pavement in Northern China and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, high temperature and precipitation are main aspects in Southern China, however, every factor should be comprehensively considered in Central China because the effect of every factor is relatively balanceable.