Moisture resistance of stone matrix asphalt at lab simulated high temperature and continuous rainfall condition

ABSTRACT

The study of asphalt mixture in unfavourable climate conditions has been receiving an increasing attention in pavement engineering. This study aimed to investigate the moisture resistance property of stone matrix asphalt (SMA) in continuous rainfall and high-temperature conditions. Meanwhile, this study employed five indicators to evaluate the moisture resistance property of SMA and analysed the correlation between them. Specifically, rutting depth, creep slope (CS), slipping number (LC_SN), tensile strength ratio (TSR) and adhesion failure were used for quantitative evaluation. Climate data of the most unfavourable condition in Shanghai in the past 20 years were collected and input in an accelerated weathering test device for indoor simulation. Hamburg wheel tracking test, indirect tensile test and water boiling test were employed to characterise the moisture resistance property of SMA. As a result, it revealed that moisture resistance of SMA could drop to a minimum value after being exposed to the environment for more than 5 days, and the moisture resistance of SMA could rebound at around 10 days of treatment. Through correlation analysis, it was found that for SMA, TSR presented a good linear correlation with the reciprocal of CS (1/CS) and LC_SN showed a good correlation with 1/CS and rutting depth.

KEYWORDS:

• Moisture resistance
• accelerated weathering
• image processing
• Hamburg wheel tracking
• SMA

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 51861145402].