PFC5 Asphalt Workflow

Use this skill as the primary entrypoint for a complete asphalt-mixture task that targets PFC 5.0. Keep the PFC5 case internally version-pure and route narrow work to the sibling skills listed below.

When to use

Use this skill when the request includes one or more of:

• PFC2D/PFC3D 5.0 asphalt, asphalt concrete, AC-13/16/20, mastic, aggregate or voids;
• fistPkg/FISHTank material generation or its compression, diametral or tension tests;
• Burger viscoelastic contacts for asphalt mortar;
• Marshall stability/flow or wheel-tracking/rutting;
• auditing an existing asphalt case for unsupported-version contamination.
• migrating, restoring, or resuming an existing private PFC5 asphalt case.

If the user targets another PFC major version, stop and state that this package is out of scope; do not route to a removed sibling or translate commands implicitly.

Required inputs

Before production code, obtain or mark as unresolved:

1. product (PFC2D or PFC3D 5.0); do not require a particular PFC5.0 subversion;
2. unit system and stress/strain sign convention;
3. test type and the complete standard method chain (sampling, preparation, forming, density/void, performance and field-validation methods), including whether a legacy 2011 method must be reproduced;
4. specimen geometry and dimensional idealization;
5. sieve-by-sieve gradation, constituent densities, binder/aggregate convention and target air-void content;
6. aggregate representation (balls/clumps) and minimum resolvable particle size;
7. contact-pair hypothesis and calibrated macro targets at the test temperature/rate; for an intersection case, include the vertical-horizontal load law, contact-model mixture policy and any physical-to-accelerated time mapping;
8. legal <FISTPKG_ROOT>, PFC runtime route and run budget;
9. required saves, histories, raw exports, figures and acceptance tolerances.

Never silently invent missing gradation, standard values, Burger parameters, or measured targets.

Version and evidence gates

Read version-matrix.md, fistpkg-contract.md, and standards-policy.md before writing a case. Use standards-method-map.md to classify each standard as a material method, design input, field validation method or acceptance context. Use standards-source-ledger.json to bind reviewed method claims to a source edition, printed-page locator and file digest without bundling the standards text.

• PFC5 uses its own cmat, wall and FISH syntax. Reject unsupported newer-major command families instead of attempting an implicit port.
• Run scripts/check_fistpkg.py "<FISTPKG_ROOT>" before relying on fistPkg.
• Treat the user's licensed fistPkg files as external inputs. Never vendor their FISH, DLL, PDFs, projects or saves into this skill package.
• The checker proves file compatibility only. A case is not validated until PFC executes a minimal syntax probe and the intended pilot case.

Workflow

P-1 — Audit an existing private case

When the request starts from an existing project, route first to pfc5-case-handoff. Protect the source, freeze included/excluded branches, verify integrity and portable dependencies, then restore the claimed last-good save and run a bounded audit before any full rebuild. Keep accepted, restart-only, diagnostic-only and obsolete states distinct. Skip this phase for a genuinely new case.

P0 — Freeze the case contract

Copy pfc5-asphalt-intake.yaml into the case directory and complete it. Record every value with units and provenance. Every method_chain item is an independent source record; do not reuse one global edition, source ID or reviewer across aggregate, forming, performance and field methods. Repeat a role when several methods or project records contribute, and use not_applicable rather than deleting a required role.

P1 — Choose the material abstraction

Route to pfc-asphalt-mixture.

• A homogenized-mastic route normally uses explicit aggregate particles/clumps, unresolved mastic represented by contact laws, and residual pore space.
• An explicit fine-particle route adds resolvable fine aggregate/filler particles; it is not automatically a literal three-particle-phase binder model.
• Document which real phase each object/contact represents and what the model cannot resolve.

Perform volume and mass closure before particle generation. Do not assume nominal sieve fractions equal DEM particle radii.

P2 — Build and compact

Route the command skeleton, staged saves, contact installation order and static version audit to pfc5-core-modeling. Route reusable controllers, histories and callbacks to pfc5-fish; every callback still needs a minimal PFC5 runtime probe.

Use separate PFC5 stages:

00_parameters
10_boundaries
20_aggregate_generation
30_settle_or_expand
40_compact
50_install_final_contacts
60_equilibrate_and_instrument
70_test
80_export_and_verify

At every milestone record seed, particle/clump counts, mass/volume closure, void content, coordination/contact counts, equilibrium metric and save name. A target height alone does not prove target void content.

P3 — Install and calibrate contacts

Route Burger work to pfc-burger-viscoelastic and fistPkg baseline tests to pfc-fishtank-tests. Use pfc5-servo-calibration for wall-servo sign probes, gain bounds, parameter ledgers, guarded two-target updates and independent-case confirmation.

1. verify a two-body or small-RVE contact probe in a PFC5.0 runtime;
2. separate existing-contact reassignment from future-contact defaults;
3. equilibrate after contact changes and preserve the pre-load state;
4. calibrate elastic response, strength/interface response and time-temperature response in a declared sequence;
5. confirm the result on an independent seed/specimen or loading condition.

Contact-level Burger constants are not obtained by directly renaming DSR/BBR parameters; they must be fitted through a model-scale response with units and geometry held fixed.

P4 — Run the selected test

Test	Route	Extra gate
compression/diametral/tension/creep	pfc5-standard-tests; optionally pfc-fishtank-tests	forming/density/performance method chain, specimen formula, sign convention and exact baseline provenance
Marshall	pfc-marshall-test	T 0702 forming handoff, T 0709 edition, curved-head kinematics, raw/corrected curve audit
wheel tracking/rutting	pfc-rutting-test	T 0703 or field-cut specimen handoff, T 0719 edition, count convention, load control and seven-position/equivalent rut measurement
intersection braking/acceleration rutting	pfc-rutting-test	separate vertical/horizontal reaction targets, boundary sensitivity, shear-component/depth contract and surrogate-equivalence evidence
transient load or stress wave	pfc5-dynamics-wave	wavelength/resolution, direction and timestep contract
AE or energy interpretation	pfc5-ae-energy	explicit hit/event rule and declared energy convention
fluid, seepage or coupled boundary	pfc5-coupling	exchange contract, units and independently validated solver sides
other mechanical path	project-specific PFC5 extension	verify every command in an actual PFC5 runtime

Do not describe Marshall as a Brazilian-tension simulation merely because it reuses dc.fis; only its controller skeleton is reused.

P5 — Verify, validate and deliver

Required checks:

• version-pure syntax and external-source manifest;
• geometry node/element contract when importing CAD or a mesh;
• equilibrium and quasi-static/inertial evidence;
• seed, resolution, timestep/damping and boundary sensitivity;
• mass/volume/air-void closure;
• reaction force versus prescribed load and duplicate displacement measurement;
• for accelerated or coupled rutting, unaccelerated pilot comparison, contact-model population audit, vector-reaction error, displacement asymmetry and shear-depth profile;
• curve shape, scalar targets and failure/rutting pattern against experiments;
• rerun instructions and explicit list of unpassed runtime gates.

Specialist routing

Need	Skill
private-case migration, restore-first audit and handoff	pfc5-case-handoff
command skeleton, stages, contact lifecycle, source audit	pfc5-core-modeling
PFC5 FISH functions, histories and callbacks	pfc5-fish
servo control and guarded calibration updates	pfc5-servo-calibration
CAD/mesh conversion contracts	pfc5-geometry-import
compression, diametral, tension and creep metrics	pfc5-standard-tests
dynamic loading and stress-wave resolution	pfc5-dynamics-wave
AE hit clustering and energy bookkeeping	pfc5-ae-energy
fluid, seepage and solver-coupling contracts	pfc5-coupling
aggregate/gradation/void/specimen	pfc-asphalt-mixture
Burger theory, PFC5 commands and calibration	pfc-burger-viscoelastic
fistPkg26 external framework	pfc-fishtank-tests
Marshall controller adaptation	pfc-marshall-test
wheel-tracking/rutting	pfc-rutting-test
CSV/image post-processing	pfc-postprocessing or pfc-vedo-postprocess
unsupported test type	project-specific PFC5 extension; no cross-version fallback

Output contract

Deliver:

• completed case intake and source/version manifest;
• PFC5-only stage map and thin driver;
• gradation plus mass/volume/void closure tables;
• contact assignment and calibrated parameter tables with units and temperature/rate;
• fistPkg dependency-check result and copied-case provenance;
• milestone saves and convergence/load-control evidence;
• raw histories, calculated test metrics and validation comparison;
• exact rerun instructions;
• runtime_validated: true/false with all unpassed gates named.

Local contents

• references/version-matrix.md — PFC5-only acceptance and rejection boundary.
• references/fistpkg-contract.md — fistPkg26 external dependency contract.
• references/standards-policy.md — current-versus-legacy test-standard rules.
• references/standards-method-map.md — roles and method-chain routing for the reviewed asphalt, aggregate, design, field, maintenance and acceptance standards.
• references/standards-source-ledger.json — source identity, digest, review scope and claim records; no standards text.
• references/runtime-verification-manifest.json — hash-bound record of the four PFC5 runtime probes and the retained evidence level.
• references/intersection-rutting-research-evidence.md — external-paper evidence, transferable modeling ideas and explicit non-default boundaries for mixed contacts, time compression and vertical-horizontal rutting.
• scripts/check_fistpkg.py — backward-compatible entry point for the checker owned by pfc-fishtank-tests.
• scripts/check_runtime_manifest.py — verifies that recorded runtime evidence still matches the current probe sources.
• templates/pfc5-asphalt-intake.yaml — case intake and provenance template.
• tests/test_check_fistpkg.py — deterministic checker tests.
• tests/test_pfc5_runtime_assets.py — source-boundary and runtime-manifest regression tests.
• dependencies.json — validated package-level contract for the PFC5 specialist skills.