Crack Self-healing in Asphalt as a Flow Process

Grossegger, Daniel; Garcia, Alvaro; Airey, Gordon

Abstract

Asphalt has the ability to restore diminished properties caused by damage. This ability is known as self-healing and in case of asphalt it is conferred upon by the competent bitumen. Bitumen is a viscoelastic liquid and has self-healing abilities due to is viscous part. Hence, the healing of cracks in asphalt is mainly influenced by rheological properties of bitumen. The viscosity of bitumen, which affects the self-healing rate, is affected by the filler content. In this research, the effect of porous aggregates in asphalt and the filler content in asphalt mortar is investigated. The absorption of bitumen by porous aggregates further reduced the self-healing efficiency beside the drainage of bitumen occurring at higher temperatures. This effect is reduced by increasing the bitumen content. However, the porous aggregates reduced the mechanical resistance of the asphalt beams, resulting in a lower breaking force. The contribution of flow to the self-healing was determined by material drainage into an artificial gap during the healing process on asphalt mortar beams. The material flowing into the gap had a similar composition as the mixture, though it had an increased filler and bitumen content. The filler content had no effect on the maximum healing efficiency or the breaking force, though influence the flow speed. The flowing material also consists of smaller aggregate particles, indicating the fundamental relationship between mixture design and self-healing.

Citation

Grossegger, D., Garcia, A., & Airey, G. (2022). Crack Self-healing in Asphalt as a Flow Process. In Proceedings of the RILEM International Symposium on Bituminous Materials (489-495). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46455-4_62

• Online Publication Date: Sep 26, 2021
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 31, 2022
• Pages: 489-495
• Series Title: RILEM Bookseries
• Series Number: 27
• Series ISSN: 2211-0852
• Book Title: Proceedings of the RILEM International Symposium on Bituminous Materials
• ISBN: 9783030464547
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46455-4_62
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7350063
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-46455-4_62
• Contract Date: Jul 1, 2021