SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1985
STP35324S

The Effect of Moisture on the Performance of Asphalt Mixtures

Source

This paper presents the results of a laboratory study to investigate the effects of mixing moisture on mechanical properties of asphalt mixtures. The potential benefits of lime and Pavebond Special were also evaluated. The repeated load diametral test device was used to measure the mixture performance in terms of the resilient modulus, fatigue, and permanent deformation characteristics of laboratory specimens prepared with and without moisture (0, 1, and 3%) and with and without lime (1%) and Pavebond (0.5%). Mixtures were prepared that were representative of two projects for which considerable field data were available. One project utilized low quality and high absorptive aggregate and the other good quality aggregate. To evaluate the long-term durability of mixtures, they were tested before and after conditioning using the Lottman approach.

The test results showed that inferior performance occurred for mixtures with 3% moisture but was most pronounced in mixtures with higher air-void contents. However, the mixtures with low quality and high absorptive aggregate showed improved performance at 1% moisture content, associated with their lower air-void contents, which may be due to absorbed moisture preventing asphalt absorption and the higher asphalt content of these mixtures. The addition of lime resulted in distinct improvement of performance for moist specimens from the project, which had good quality aggregate, but high air-void contents. However, neither additive showed substantial benefit for moist samples from the project with low quality aggregate and low air-void content.

Author Information

Kim, O-K
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Bell, CA
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Hicks, RG
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
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Details
Developed by Committee: D04
Pages: 51–72
DOI: 10.1520/STP35324S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-4954-0
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-0460-0