Bituminous mix design is a delicate balancing act among the proportions of various aggregate sizes and bitumen content. For a given aggregate gradation, the optimum bitumen content is estimated by satisfying a number of mix design parameters. This article briefly discusses the current approaches in bituminous mix design and singles out the issues involved.

Pyrolysis experiments of a low-mature bitumen sample originated from Cambrian was conducted in gold capsules. Abundance and distribution of phenanthrene series compounds in pyrolysis products were measured by GC-MS to investigate their changes with thermal maturity. Several maturity parameters based on the distribution of phenanthrene series compounds have been discussed. The results indicate t...

The subject of this paper is an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) of processes needed to construct and maintain representative Swiss asphalt, concrete, and composite pavements (including subbase layers) applicable for the Swiss national road network over a period of 75 years. The environmental indicators analyzed are the global warming potential indic...

Modelling the service life for asphalt pavements is widely made with base on empirical methods, developed half-century ago, with poor results. The new reality of the XXI century, with high construction costs, environmental restrictions and growing volumes of vehicles in the highways, enforce the shift to a new level of quality and accuracy to predict the service life of the pavements. This pape...

External pressures applied to a saturated pavement pore structure are often dynamic due to the repeated tire loading. Therefore, a dynamic permeability constant is more realistic representation of the response of a pavement pore structure than the Darcy’s permeability. To investigate the unsteady (dynamic) fluid flow in asphalt pavements, a 3D fluid flow model was developed using the lattice Bo...

In this study, stiffness modulus parameters of asphalt concrete were determined experimentally for different temperature and exposure times. The stiffness modules were calculated according to Nijboer stiffness module. Basic physical properties and the quantity of bitumen of asphalt core samples were designated for determining the stiffness modules. The samples were exposed to 17 C (reference te...

This study examined the long-term effectiveness of permeable pavement as an alternative to traditional impervious asphalt pavement in a parking area. Four commercially available permeable pavement systems were evaluated after 6 years of daily parking usage for structural durability, ability to infiltrate precipitation, and impacts on infiltrate water quality. All four permeable pavement systems...