Explainable creep prediction and design optimization of SBS/CR modified asphalt: a spectral information coupling encoding and physical data-driven framework

• The spectral information coupling encoding combining Gramian Angular Fields transformation and AutoEncoder can effectively extract FTIR micro-component features and improve prediction accuracy by 9.4%. • A physically driven, robust, and interpretable framework is proposed for predicting the low-temperature creep performance of SBS/CRMA; • SHapley Additive exPlanations and two-dimensional gradient attribution techniques provide quantitative multi-scale insights into the influence of both macros