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© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

This paper aims to characterize the three-dimensional (3D) internal structure evolution of asphalt mixtures under freeze–thaw cycles. Asphalt mixtures with three levels of design void content (3%, 5%, and 7%) were prepared in the laboratory. Subsequently, X-ray computed tomography (CT) tests were conducted to capture two-dimensional (2D) images of the internal structure of samples before and after freeze–thaw testing. A set of image processing techniques for reconstructing 3D images of the internal structure were utilized to extract the internal structure properties, which were then used to analyze the changes in the air void distributions and to evaluate the internal structure evolution under freeze–thaw cycles. 3D images reconstructed from X-ray CT images illustrated a dramatic degradation in the internal structure after cyclic freeze–thaw exposure. The change in internal structure occurs mainly in three ways: (1) expansion of existing individual voids, (2) combination of two separated air voids, and (3) generation of new voids. In addition, the parametric analysis of the three-dimensional reconstructed voids revealed that the asphalt mixture void ratio increased with the number of freeze–thaw cycles, while the larger the initial void content, the more pronounced the increase in the specimens. Therefore, asphalt mixture freeze–thaw resistance should be optimized in relation to the design void content.

Details

Title
Characterization of Three-Dimensional Internal Structure Evolution in Asphalt Mixtures during Freeze–Thaw Cycles
Author
Chen, Xianhua  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Cai, Xing; Yu, Yunhong; Yang, Jun
First page
4316
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20763417
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2528273018
Copyright
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.