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Abstract
Asphalt mixtures are engineered and designed by treating the mixture as a two-component composite of the binder and mineral aggregate. Typically, asphalt binder is regarded as a homogeneous ‘glue’ that binds the mineral aggregates. However, there is a strong body of evidence in the literature spanning over five decades that indicates that the asphalt binder can be modelled as a colloid with a distinct microstructure. The introduction of advanced microscopic techniques such as Atomic Force Microscopy has generated a renewed interest in being able to better understand the relationship between the chemical makeup of the asphalt binder, its microstructure and engineering properties. The objective of this paper is to present a preliminary phase field model that was used to model the evolution of microstructure of a mixture comprising four fractions with different polarities, analogous to that of the asphalt binder. This work extends the concepts developed in previous research studies to explain the evolution of damage and self-healing at a micrometre length scale in asphalt binders. Although the model and parameters presented in this paper are not a definitive description of the microstructure evolution in asphalt binders, results show that with additional work on rigorous parameter estimation this methodology can be used as a reasonable approach to better understand the relationship between binder composition and microstructure evolution.
Acknowledgements
The authors would also like to acknowledge the many discussions with Prof. Scarpas and Dr Schmets from TU-Delft that have helped guide this study. This work was supported by National Science Foundation [CMMI-1053925].
Notes
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.