Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018

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Construction and Building Materials

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Review

A review of water transport in dense-graded asphalt mixtures

Yuan Pang, Peiwen Hao ⇑
Highway School, Chang’an University, South Erhuan Middle Section, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710064, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Water transport in dense-graded asphalt mixtures (DGAMs) is one significant topic for an in-depth study
Received 27 April 2017 of water damage in asphalt pavements. The X-ray computed tomography (X-ray CT) helps researchers to
Received in revised form 2 August 2017 understand the internal structure of DGAMs and restructure it for numerical simulations of water trans-
Accepted 16 August 2017
port in DGAMs. This review discusses the difference between the internal structure of DGAMs’ specimens
Available online 26 September 2017
by laboratory compactions, which include the Superpave gyratory compactor (SGC), the linear kneading
compactor (LKC), the Marshall compactor and the vibratory compactor, and field cores and clarifies the
Keywords:
purpose of a laboratory compaction. And then the review describes gaseous and liquid water transport
Dense-graded asphalt mixture
Water transport
in DGAMs, the permeability of three transport media, asphalt mixtures, asphalt mastic and pure asphalt.
X-ray computed tomography Numerical simulations of DGAMs are also discussed in the review and confronted problems are set forth
Internal structure that involve the dividing of the gray threshold in X-ray CT images, the restructuring of the 3D model of
Permeability DGAMs, the permeability of asphalt mastic in this model and the truncation criterion of a water transport
Numerical simulation process. Future work on water transport in DGAMs is recommended in the end of the review.
Compaction Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
2. X-ray CT and the image processing technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1006
3. The internal structure of laboratory/field compactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
3.1. Air voids distribution in DGAMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
3.2. Aggregates distribution in DGAMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1007
3.2.1. Aggregate segregation (homogeneity). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1008
3.2.2. Aggregate orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1009
3.3. The limit of laboratory compactions and its effect on water transport in DGAMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
4. Water transport in DGAMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1011
4.1. Gaseous water transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
4.2. Liquid water transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1012
4.3. Permeability. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1014
5. Numerical simulations of water transport in DGAMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
5.1. Modeling water transport in DGAMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
5.2. Deficiencies of numerical simulations on water transport in DGAMs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1015
6. Summary and recommendation on future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
Acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1017

⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: pangyuan@chd.edu.cn (Y. Pang), pwhao@chd.edu.cn (P. Hao).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.08.092
0950-0618/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1006 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018
1. Introduction
Water damage, such as raveling, stripping and potholes, is an
important type of distresses in asphalt pavements. To date, many
simple testing methods have been used to investigate the effect
of water on DGAMs. These methods are commonly to compare
the properties of loose or compacted asphalt mixtures before and
after wetting through subjective assessments (such as rolling bot-
tle method, boiling water test, static immersion test and etc.) and
objective assessments (such as indirect tensile test, stability testing
and etc.). A detailed review about this is provided by S. Caro et al.
[1,2]. Many methods of this type are simple and easy to operate
and have a short testing time so that they become standard tests
of ASSTHO, CEN and China national standard (CNS). However, the
degree and direction of water transport inside DGAMs are not in
consideration but a key to optimize the design of DGAMs in the
pavement engineering. So, it is far away from understanding a real
process that water impacts asphalt mixtures.
Water transport in asphalt mixtures is an important topic in
thorough studies of water damage in asphalt pavements. As
open-graded asphalt mixtures (OGAMs) have higher intercon-
nected air voids, their water transport is relative simple to be ana-
lyzed. Moreover, the Delft University of Technology has developed
a professional finite element tool to simulate the process of water
transport and water damage for OGAMs. However, it is difficult to
survey water transport for DGAMs because of two major difficul-
ties: 1) the real internal structures of DGAMs are hard to be
obtained and 2) water transport inside DGAMs is far complex than
OGAMs.
The introduction of X-ray computed tomography (CT) brought
great changes for it. X-ray CT is a useful tool to investigate asphalt
mixtures for the microstructure and performance. The first change
by X-ray CT is that the internal structure in DGAMs can be recog-
nized, which include the distribution of air voids and aggregates.
On this aspect, many studies have been conducted [3–15]. In gen-
eral, the homogeneity of aggregates’ distribution in DGAMs is far
better than that of air voids distribution. The second one is that
the internal structure of a DGAM is restructured in three dimen-
sions (3D). This restructured 3D structure still has some deficien-
cies because of a resolution of X-ray CT and compaction methods
[3,11,16–18]. The major deficiency is how fine asphalt mixture
(FAM, also called asphalt mastic) and asphalt film exist in the
restructured 3D structure [19]. The third is an indirect but impor-
tant one that a numerical simulation of water transport is con-
ducted in this restructured 3D structure. Gaseous or liquid water
transport in DGAMs is studied by three different levels or transport
media, asphalt mixtures, asphalt mastic and pure asphalt [20–30].
And the numerical simulation of water transport in DGAMs has
been well-developed [6,24,31–33] using the lattice Boltzmann
method (LBM) and the traditional computational fluid dynamics
Table 1
Parts of used X-ray CT systems.
Researchers X-ray CT systems CT types
Jiang et al. [34] Picker PQ5000 Medical
Kapitany et al. [36] Siemens Somatom Emotion 16 Medical
Xu [37] phoenix v|tome|x m Industrial
Apeagyei et al. [29] VENLO H-350/225 Industrial
Su et al. [38] General Electric LightspeedÒ Medical
VCT 64
Wang et al. [39] BT-500 Industrial CT Industrial
Masad et al. [40] ACTIS 600/420 Industrial
methods (CFDMs). Thus, X-ray CT allows us to analyze the internal
structure of asphalt mixtures in a visual way and the numerical
simulation visualizes water transport inside the opaque DGAM.
Water damage in DGAMs is an important topic after studying
water transport but out of the scope of this paper. This review
focuses on water transport in DGAMs and its visualized numerical
simulation, as following:

the differences of the internal structure in DGAMs brought by
different laboratory and field compactions,

modes of water transport in DGAMS, permeability of asphalt
mixtures, asphalt mastic and pure asphalt and its major influ-
encing factors, and

numerical simulation methods of water transport in DGAMs
and their comparison.
2. X-ray CT and the image processing technology
X-ray CT is a non-destructive technique to obtain 3D geometry
information of opaque solid objects with the digital image technol-
ogy. Table 1 lists parts of used X-ray CT systems and Fig. 1 shows
medical and industrial X-ray CT systems (Fig. 1a and b) as well
as a scanning process (Fig. 1c). When X-ray passes through one
asphalt mixture specimen, its intensity attenuates and this attenu-
ation varies as the specimen’s density changes (maximum attenu-
ation for aggregates, smaller attenuation for asphalts and no
attenuation for air voids). And then the distribution of the linear
attenuation coefficient for an asphalt mixture specimen is gained
and quantified to form a 256 gray-level digital image of one slice
through a 360° full rotation (perpendicular to the X-ray plane) of
one specimen. After a scanning process, one specimen should be
vertically shifted by a fixed distance (a vertical interval (VI) or a
slice thickness) until the entire specimen is scanned. Commonly,
X-ray CT can identify a very small density difference (1%) between
materials. Frequently-used scanning patterns have a horizontal
scanning (HS) [10] and a vertical scanning (VS) [8].
After that, the image processing technology is used to identify
coarse aggregates, FAM and air voids and then restructures a 3D
structure of an asphalt mixture specimen. The identification of
FAM is because only aggregates, of which the diameter is obviously
lager than the resolution of X-ray CT, can be accurately identified.
Fig. 2 shows scanning images of pure asphalt (Fig. 2a), aggregates
(Fig. 2b) passing through 0.3 mm sieve, 0.6 mm sieve and
4.75 mm sieve, and the interfaces (Fig. 2c, red line) between aggre-
gates passing through 0.3 mm sieve and 0.6 mm sieve. This reflects
that FAM is a mixture consisting of fine aggregates, asphalt and air
voids. The image processing technology still faces two major diffi-
culties: 1) the separate-away of closely adjacent aggregates and 2)
the extracting of aggregates from one poor-contrast scanning
Image processing Scanning ways
method/tool
Threshold method HS; VI: 2 mm; Image size: 512  512; Sampling resolution:
about 0.2 mm
Fourier transformation HS; VI: 1.2 mm; Image size: 512  512; Sampling resolution:
method 0.4883 mm
VG Studio Max HS; VI: 0.064 mm; Sampling resolution: 0.015 mm
ImageJ HS; VI: 1 mm; Device resolution: 0.083 mm
ImageJ HS; VI: 0.625 mm; Device resolution: 0.625 mm
Image Pro-Plus HS; Device resolution: 0.05 mm
Image Tool 1997 HS; VI: 0.8 mm
 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018 1007

a) Medical CT[34] b) Industrial CT[35]

c) Scanning process[31]
Fig. 1. Medical and industrial X-ray CT systems.

image [10]. In applying, however, it was gradually improved overall distribution of air voids in asphalt mixtures. However, it
[10,36,41–44]. is obviously abstract and inconvenient. Thus, the homogeneity of
air voids distribution is introduced to give more detailed descrip-
tions. According to different directions, the homogeneity of air
3. The internal structure of laboratory/field compactions
voids distribution is classified to two kinds, the horizontal and ver-
tical homogeneity. In analysis, division modes of specimens have
The internal structure of asphalt mixtures determines its water
the horizontal division (Fig. 3a–d) and the vertical division
transport. In a given gradation and asphalt content, compaction
(Fig. 3e–g). In detail, there is a dichotomy [9,16], a trichotomy
methods are a vital factor to affect the internal structure of asphalt
[16,39], a four-part division [11] and a multiple-part division
mixtures. In this review, they have two groups, laboratory com-
[9,13,15] More details are referred to the related references. Gener-
pactions, including the Superpave gyratory compactor (SGC), the
ally, more divisions appear more obvious differences.
linear kneading compactor (LKC), the Marshall compactor (MC)
Air voids distribution for different compactions has larger dif-
and the vibratory compactor (VC), and a field compaction or field
ferences. Air voids distribution of SGC specimens had larger at
cores. The differences by these compactions are focused on distri-
the middle and smaller at the top and bottom but only in the mid-
butions of air voids and aggregates in asphalt mixtures.
dle section air voids distribution was relatively uniform
[3,5,39,48,49]. For LKC specimens, air voids generally increased
3.1. Air voids distribution in DGAMs
along with the depth [48]. Fig. 4 showed air voids distributions
of selected slices in MC and SGC specimens [39]. For field cores
The basic information of air voids obtained by X-ray CT, such as
(FCs), air voids distribution showed a reduction with the depth
area, volume and equivalent diameter, is referred to Al-Omari et al.
[3,7,9,16,40]. The horizontal distribution of air voids in FCs was
[4] and Masad et al. [7]. In this review, air voids distribution is
nearly identical [16]. Fig. 5 showed air voids distribution for spec-
majorly related to its homogeneity. The term ‘‘homogeneity” has
imens from different compaction methods, the MC [39], LKC and
other expressions, such as inhomogeneity [8,46] and heterogeneity
SGC [48] as well as FCs [3].
[11,13], uniformity [9] and non-uniformity [47], which in fact point
to the same meaning.
According to non-normal distribution characteristics of air 3.2. Aggregates distribution in DGAMs
voids in asphalt mixtures, an overall distribution of air voids for
DGAM’s specimens was analyzed using a two-parameter or An aggregate gradation is the result of an asphalt mixture
three-parameter Weibull distribution [5,12,14]. Relatively speak- design and is congenital. Uniform distribution of aggregates is vital
ing, a three-parameter Weibull distribution better captures the for good mechanical properties of asphalt pavements/mixtures.
1008 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018

Fig. 2. X-ray CT image of pure asphalt and different aggregates [45].

Fig. 3. Horizontal and vertical division schematics for air voids distribution.

Distribution of major aggregates (coarse aggregate, diameter
P2.36 mm) has two types, aggregate segregation (or homogene-
ity) and aggregate orientation. Although many related studies are
in two dimensions (2D) and their results are probably not well,
to a certain extent, they can explain some phenomena.
3.2.1. Aggregate segregation (homogeneity)
Aggregate segregation (2D) is the homogeneity of aggregates
distribution on one section. It is investigated in surfaces or sections
obtained using horizontal and vertical divisions (Fig. 6a and d). And
there is a dichotomy (Fig. 6b) [3] and a trichotomy (Fig. 6c) [8] for
 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018 1009

Fig. 4. X-ray CT scanning slices from MC and SGC specimens [39].

Percent air voids (%) 3.2.2. Aggregate orientation

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 2D Aggregate orientation for one section is an angle between
0
aggregate’s (diameter P2.36 mm) major axis, which represents
20 the greatest distance between two pixel points of a boundary pro-
file, and a radial line on a horizontal section (Fig. 7a) or a horizontal
Specimen height

40 line on a vertical section. The orientation with a radial line is also

Depth (mm)

60 commonly called the circumferential orientation.

80
100
120
140 SGC LKC Marshall
Fig. 5. Air voids distribution of specimens from different compactions.
one vertical section. More details are referred to the related
references.
Aggregate segregation (2D) from different compactions also has
considerable differences. In the vertical direction, larger aggregates
occurred in the outer region for specimens from the SGC and VC
but this phenomenon didn’t exist for cores from the slab (LKC)
[17]. Variation trends of 2D radial aggregate segregation (Fig. 6e)
in the horizontal direction were similar for specimens compacted
by the SGC, VC and LKC [17]. However, with the size of aggregates
increasing, specimens from the SGC and VC presented significantly
higher segregation but cores from the slabs (LKC) hardly did [8,17].
For FCs, aggregate segregation didn’t appear in the horizontal and
vertical directions [3,17].
SGC specimens had a higher tendency of 2D aggregate
orientation with a particular angle on the horizontal sections
and this trend was hardly influenced even though changing the
temperature and pressure in gyration compaction processes
[50]. The research of Masad et al. [48] suggested that aggregate
orientation in SGC specimens preferred the horizontal direction
Field core
on the vertical sections but LKC specimens have a more random
distribution of orientation. The 2D aggregate orientation on the
horizontal sections of MC specimens was lower comparing with
SGC specimens [50]. For SGC and VC specimens, due to the effect
of boundary confinements of the mold and the plates, the 2D cir-
cumferential orientation of aggregates on the horizontal sections
showed a higher level but specimens cored from the slabs (LKC)
displayed a lower level because of no boundary confinement
[17,18]. The study of 3D Aggregate orientation (Fig. 7b) by Kutay
et al. [10] showed that maximum principal axis of most aggre-
gates lied on the horizontal plane (x-y plane) and that such
aggregate orientation occurred early in the compaction process
and hardly changed as the compaction effort increased. For
field cores, the aggregate orientation on the vertical sections
presented a nearly random distribution [3,40] and then the cir-
cumferential orientation on the horizontal sections hardly
existed [18].
1010 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018

Fig. 6. Horizontal and vertical division schematics for aggregates distribution.

Fig. 7. 2D orientation schematic [17] and 3D major principal axis [10] for aggregates.
 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018 1011

Fig. 8. The study on Water transport in DGAMs.

3.3. The limit of laboratory compactions and its effect on water
transport in DGAMs
The purpose of laboratory compactions is to really simulate a
field compaction process as soon as possible and to obtain speci-
mens that should have the same internal structure and mechanical
properties with field cores at the greatest extent. No matter for air
voids distribution or aggregates distribution in asphalt mixtures,
due to the effects of boundaries of the mold and plates or loading
modes, SGC, VC and MS specimens have a larger difference from
FCs in whichever directions and LKC specimens that are cored from
the slabs just keep a relatively close trend with FCs in the horizon-
tal direction. Thus, there are obvious differences between the inter-
nal structure of specimens/cores by laboratory compactions and a
field compaction, which means that laboratory compactions can-
not fully simulate a field compaction. These differences result in
different water transport in specimens/cores, which is the proof
that the permeability of a laboratory specimen cannot represent
one of a field core although their values are the same or close
sometimes.
In addition, the results of mechanical properties also support
this view that laboratory compactions cannot fully simulate a field
compaction. Hunter et al. [17] found that the resistance of SGC and
VC specimens to permanent deformation presented a higher level
than LKC specimens in the repeated load axial test, which was
ascribed to the circumferential orientation and radial segregation
of aggregates. The results of the indirect stiffness modulus test,
the repeated load axial test and the tensile indirect fatigue test
by Airey et al. [18] showed that the mechanical properties of LKC
specimens more access those of FCs than SGC and VC specimens
probably because of higher compaction energies of the SGC and VC.
Therefore, according to the difference of fabricating specimens
and with/without the boundary effect, laboratory compactions
are classified to two kinds, direct- and indirect-specimen types of
compactions. The internal structure and mechanical properties of
specimens from the direct-specimen types of compactions, such
as the SGC, MC and VC, are obviously influenced by the mold. Spec-
imens from the indirect-specimen types of compactions like the
LKC are normally cored from larger specimens (slabs) to eliminate
the boundary effect of the mold, of which the internal structure
and mechanical properties are more similar to field cores though
there is a certain distance from a complete simulation. Therefore,
it still needs to be studied deeply to effectively and accurately sim-
ulate a field compaction and narrow the gap between the internal
structure and mechanical properties of laboratory specimens and
field cores.
4. Water transport in DGAMs
Water damage in asphalt pavements is greatly affected by the
internal structure of asphalt mixtures. The root for this is that

Table 2
A summary of recent studies on gaseous water transport for DGAMs.

Researchers Specimen NMAS (mm) Meq (‰) Testing time Dco (cm2/s) %RH
Cheng et al. [51] AAD-1 Pure asphalt 0.22 N/A 1.33 105 75%
AAM-1 0.16 4.83 105
Sasaki et al. [22] Runway 12.5 6.71 24 h N/A 25–60%
Road 2.25
Arambula et al. [53] FM-2 4.75 N/A 40 d 257 108 100%
FM-3 252 108
AM-1 12.5 7.06 106
AM-3 6.11 106
Apeagyei et al. [54] LA + LF 1.18 1.03 250–500 h 3.63 108 85%
LA + GF 1.09 2.47 108
GA + LF 1.15 2.46 108
GA + GF 1.34 2.31 108
Apeagyei et al. [55] LA + LF 1.18 4.76 112 d 3.1 108 50%
LA + GF 1.33 12.76 108
GA + LF 17.07 0.24 108
GA + GF 2.27 2.55 108

Note: 1) NMAS represents the nominal maximum aggregate size.

2) Meq represents the rate of water uptake at equilibrium.
3) Dco represents the diffusion coefficient of a specimen.
4) LA, GA, LF and GF represents limestone aggregate, granite aggregate, lime filler and granite filler, respectively.
1012 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018
0.2
GA+GF GA+LF
GA+GF GA+LF
0.15
Moisture uptake (%)
0.1
0.05
0 liquid water for transporting in asphalt mastic, especially in the
0 5 10
Times (days)
Fig. 9. Water uptake of asphalt mastic through different water transport.
the internal structure of asphalt mixtures decides water transport
modes in asphalt mixtures. Unlike an OGAM, interconnected air
voids of a DGAM are a little or scarce. Therefore, water transport
in DGAMs is completely different. Commonly, water states in
water transport of DGAMs have two types, gaseous water and liq-
uid water, showed in Fig. 8.
4.1. Gaseous water transport
Gaseous water transport in DGAMs, also called vapor transport,
is that water, in the gaseous state, enters into, passes by and influ-
ences asphalt mixtures. It is tested by the Universal Sorption
Device (USD) [51], the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy-
Attenuated Total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) [26], the Gravimetric Sorp-
tion Analyzer (GSA) [52] and the special method [53]. Caro et al. [2]
gave three primary factors influencing gaseous water transport in
DGAMs: 1) relative humidity, 2) diffusion coefficient (permeabil-
ity) and 3) water holding potential (including storage rate and stor-
age capacity). A relative humidity (%RH) is an environmental factor
and the diffusion coefficient and water holding potential are inher-
ent properties of asphalt mixtures. Table 2 shows a summary of
recent studies on gaseous water transport for DGAMs.
Cheng et al. [51] used the USD to analyze the effect of gaseous
water on moisture damage. Since the USD only can measure the
total amount of water absorbed by asphalt specimens, Cheng
et al. [51] introduced one absorption model based on the diffusion
theory to separate absorbed water in asphalt film from water
absorbed by one specimen. From the result of Cheng et al. [51],
the diffusion coefficient of pure asphalt (105 cm2 =s of order of
magnitude) is obviously larger than that of asphalt mastic
(108 cm2 =s of order of magnitude), which suggests that this model
has bigger errors. So, the result by Cheng et al. [51] is out of later
discussion.
The studies of gaseous water transport in DGAMs have several
phenomena to be focused. The first one is related with a relative
humidity. Relative humidities in these studies (such as 75%RH,
85%RH and 100%RH) are relatively higher than a real condition.
Even though testing temperatures are also a little diverse, such
as 20 °C [55], 23 °C [54] and 35 °C [53], a higher relative humidity
easily reaches the equilibrium state in a short time. The second one
refers to the diffusion coefficient. The diffusion coefficient of gas-
eous water in asphalt mastic by Arambula et al. [53] was larger
than but approximated that of liquid water by Kassem [20]. The
third one is about water uptake. The water uptake of a DGAM
AC-13 (NMAS 13.5 mm) in the liquid state is approximately 1%.
The result of Sasaki et al. [22] was close to this uptake of liquid
water because the moisture of saturated vapor at the common
temperature is too less to be neglected. And in the test of Sasaki
et al. [22], many water droplets (liquid water) were formed on
LA+GF LA+LF
LA+GF LA+LF the bottom of specimens, which suggests that liquid water could
exist at least in the bottom part of specimens. And the Langmuir-
type diffusion model induced by Apeagyei et al. [55] suggested that
80% of gaseous water absorbed in asphalt mastic was in the bound
state. Fig. 9 shows water uptake of asphalt mastic from different
Gaseous water aggregates and filler in liquid and gaseous states [54,55]. The
details can be referred to the studies by Apeagyei et al. [54,55].
Liquid water
These phenomena probably support one inference that although
gaseous water is one source of moisture in asphalt mastic, it is pos-
sibly condensed by some reasons (such as surface absorption) to
15 20 state of a higher relative humidity.
4.2. Liquid water transport
Liquid water transport in DGAMs includes two major types,
capillary rise and water infiltration. Both types of liquid water
transport represent two permeation directions. The capillary rise
is a bottom-up permeation of substrate water but water infiltration
is an up-bottom permeation of surface water.
The capillary rise is firstly illustrated. The suction in DGAMs has
two kinds, osmotic and matrix suctions. Due to nearly pure or dis-
tilled water employed in laboratory tests, the osmotic suction can-
not be triggered. The matric suction is generally associated with
the capillary phenomenon (or capillary rise), which is caused by
the surface tension of water and the result of interaction forces
among the molecules on a contractile skin [56]. On the effect of
negative pressures of the capillarity, liquid water overcomes the
gravity to rise up into the upper layer of asphalt pavements. There-
fore, the matric suction or capillary rise is one of major forms of
liquid water transport.
Kassem [20] placed hot mix asphalt (HMA) specimens (NMAS
13.5 mm) in a water bath with 25 mm-constant-depth distilled
water and investigate the matric suction of dense-graded HMA
specimens. The thickness of HMA specimens soaked in the water
was about 18 mm and the measuring point with the nearest dis-
tance from the surface of water is about 20 mm. Although the
soaking time in the test lasted for 10 days, the results by the psy-
chrometers showed that no capillary water reached the measuring
points. Inversely, the results of water transport in asphalt mastic
(NMAS 1.18 mm) surveyed by Kassem [20] showed that the capil-
lary rise indeed occurred. This conclusion was also supported by
the study of Masad et al. [23]. Fig. 10 showed the capillary rise test-
ing from Kassem [20] and Masad et al. [23]. The characteristics of
the capillary rise have: 1) the soaking time influenced measuring
results because 40-days-soaking time [23] allowed enough capil-
lary water to rise at one point (20 mm height) but 10-days-
soaking time [20] did not; 2) the capillary rise was dependent on
the size of air voids, and more smaller air voids are, more higher
the capillary rise is. However, it should be noted that: 1) in the
testing process, a part of specimen always soaked into liquid water
in a long time, which did not happen in a real condition; 2) in dry
regions, a groundwater table is commonly lower so that capillary
water could not reach asphalt pavement layers at all.
Surface water infiltration is the most important mode of water
transport in DGAMs. Rainwater is the predominant source of sur-
face water and driven by the gravity to infiltrate, so surface water
is also called gravity water. Surface water infiltration is a complex
process. The conventional views support that water infiltration
occurs in interconnected air voids so that the diffusion coefficient
is related to effective air voids content (only including intercon-
nected air voids but closed air voids). Asphalt mastic, however,
has the ability to infiltrate liquid or gaseous water. And Vascon-
celos [26] found that liquid water transport happened even in pure
 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018 1013

Fig. 10. The capillary rise in asphalt mixture by a) Kassem [20] and b) Masad et al. [23].

Fig. 11. The hydrophobicity of the DGAM [58].

Table 3
A summary of the permeability for asphalt mixtures as a transport medium.

Researchers Saturated Permeability percent air voids (%) NMAS Compaction Testing device Model
(mm) pattern
Al-omari et al. [4] 223–24,525 105 cm=s 9.18–18.8 12.5 LKC Karol-Warmer Darcy’s law
0–10,622 105 cm=s 5.5–15.4 19.0 Permeameter

1746–32,350 105 cm=s 14.3–20.0 25.0

0–527 105 cm=s 4.7–10.6 9.5 Field core NACT Field Permeameter Darcy’s law
0–697 105 cm=s 4.4–13.9 12.5
1–17,789 105 cm=s 5.4–12.6 19.0

Kutay [31] 11–137 105 cm=s 5.3–5.7 9.5 SGC Constant head Darcy’s law
14–89 105 cm=s 2.8–3.6 12.5 permeameter

400–35,000 105 cm=s 1.7–5.0 19.0

6–5450 105 cm=s 5.7–9.9 25.0
28–1290 105 cm=s N/A 19.0 Field core

Vivar et al. [60] 5 4.2–9.8 9.5 SGC Falling head permeameter Darcy’s law
0–1:48  10 cm=s
0–5.0 105 cm=s 3.1–11.2 12.5
Schmit et al. [61] 0–3.9 105 cm=s (93.1– N/A 12.5 In-place NACT Field Permeameter N/A
97.7%)
Kassem et al. [25] 0.29–5.67 105 cm2 =s 4.69–12.88 12.5 SGC Psychrometer Mitchell’s
equation
Arambula et al. [53] 6.11–7.06 106 cm2 =s N/A 12.5 SGC Special device Fick’s law
(vapor)

Note: 92% represents the compaction degree of asphalt mixtures.

asphalt. In other word, water in asphalt mixtures can be all-
pervasive.
Additionally, regardless of field cores or laboratory specimens,
air voids distribution of DGAMs shows the ‘‘dense middle and
sparse ends” pattern. Water transport in the surface part of one
specimen is more intensive because of larger air voids and more
interconnected air voids. Inversely, water in the middle part of
one specimen flowed quite slowly, even independent on external
pressure gradients [24]. As a result, it is quite difficult to obtain a
complete relationship among water flow, the size and distribution
of air voids, pressure gradients, aggregate gradations and etc.
Moreover, the dynamic effect of water transport is another vital
topic. Under the repeated tire pressure loading, the dynamic water
transport can weaken the cohesive and adhesive bond and thus
cause some distress, like stripping and raveling. One obvious phe-
nomenon is that potholes in asphalt pavements ‘‘immediately”
appear after a heavy raining. However, there is a little study on
the dynamic effect of water transport. Kutay et al. [35] concluded
1014 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018

that the dynamic effects acted near the surface of asphalt mixture
and thus higher pressure gradient, velocities and shear stresses
were obtained in this region comparing to in the static condition.
More details can be acknowledged in the study by Kutay [31].
The modeling of Kutay et al. [35] was based on a two-phase struc-
ture of the DGAM and just considered the dynamic effect of a sat-
urated water flow in interconnected air voids, which is
unreasonable.
At last, a new-prepared asphalt mixture or a new-construction
asphalt pavement represents the hydrophobicity to liquid water.
Hefer et al. [57] concluded that the contact angle of water on
asphalt mixtures were greater than 90° , which suggests that
a) Top 2mm b) Bottom 2mm
asphalt mixture is hydrophobic. And the contact angle of water
on the asphalt mixture decreased as the time [58], which means Fig. 12. X-ray CT scanning images of an asphalt mastic specimen [29].
that water infiltration into asphalt pavements has the hysteresis
phenomenon. Fig. 11 shows the hydrophobicity property of the
DGAM.

A permeability of gaseous water transport is less than that of
liquid water transport probably because gaseous water cannot
4.3. Permeability
provide enough water to transport in DGAMs than liquid water
when asphalt mixtures are a transport medium.
The permeability, also called the diffusion coefficient, based on
the Darcy’s law or the Fick’s law, is an index to quantify the
Table 4 lists a summary of the permeability of asphalt mastic
hydraulic properties of materials. The hydraulic definition, testing
as a transport medium from parts of past studies and the following
methods and impacting factors of a permeability are referred to the
conclusions can be observed:
review by Vardanega [59]. Based on different transport medium,
recent studies of the permeability in DGAMs can be classified to

The permeability of asphalt mastic is majorly based on the
three types, the permeability of asphalt mixtures, asphalt mastic
Fick’s law and its derivations;
and pure asphalt. This review majorly focuses on the differences

The order of magnitude of a permeability for asphalt mastic is
among them. Additionally, a given equilibrium condition in Fig. 8
is relative with a testing time. For example, a permeability test about at level of 108 cm2 =s;
for an asphalt mixture just lasts several or tens of minutes but
Compaction patterns (SGC and pouring) hardly influence the
one for asphalt mastic needs tens of hours or days and for pure permeability of asphalt mastic. However, the NMAS obviously
asphalt lasting more time, which suggests that a given equilibrium affects the permeability of asphalt mastic probably because lar-
state in one test is mostly not a real equilibrium condition, which ger NMASs mean lager percent air voids which are almost
makes the obtained permeability relatively smaller than the real ignored when measuring and calculating a permeability for
one. asphalt mastic;
Table 3 lists a summary of the permeability for asphalt mixtures
The permeability of asphalt mastic keeps stable whatever mea-
as a transport medium from parts of past studies and the following suring through gaseous or liquid water; and
characteristics can be summarized:
The permeability of asphalt mastic is anisotropic on the radial
and longitude directions (Fig. 12).

The Darcy’s law is the major measuring model of a permeability
though testing devices are diverse; Table 5 lists past studies of the permeability of pure asphalt as a

The permeability for asphalt mixtures as a transport medium is transport medium and several consequences can be elicited:
affected by percent air voids because high percent air voids can
create more interconnected air voids, but the effect of com-
The permeability of pure asphalt is also mainly based on the
paction patterns (LKC, SGC, field cores and in-place) and NMAS Fick’s law;
(9.5 mm, 12.5 mm, 19.0 mm and 25.0 mm) on it is not obvious;
The order of magnitude of a permeability for pure asphalt is

Not considering other factors, the order of magnitude of the very small, about 1010  1013 cm2 =s, except the results of
permeability for asphalt mixtures has no large difference Cheng et al. [51]. In addition, the value of the permeability of
although different models induce different units of measure- pure asphalt was affected by asphalt types [26,51,63,64] and
ment; and measuring devices [53];

Table 4
A summary of the permeability for asphalt mastic as a transport medium.

Researchers Moisture diffusion coefficient ðcm2 =sÞ percent air maximum Compaction pattern Model
voids (%) aggregate size (mm)
Kassem et al. [20] 6.43–35.8 108 (25 °C) N/A 1.18 SGC Mitchell’s equation
Kringos et al. [62] 0.13–0.36 108 (25 °C) N/A 1.18 Pouring Fick’s law
Arambula et al. [53] 252–257 108 (35 °C) (Vapor) N/A 4.75 Cored and trimmed Fick’s law
from SGC specimen
Vasconcelos et al. [27] 0.08–2.26 108 (23.9 °C) 2.05–5.04 7–11 1.18 Cored from SGC specimen Dual sorption model
108 (37.8 °C) based on Fick’s law
Apeagyei et al. [55] 0.24–12.76 108 (20 °C) N/A 1.18 pouring Fick’s law
Apeagyei et al. [54] 2.31–3.63 108 (23 °C) (Vapor) N/A 1.18 pouring Fick’s law
 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018
Table 5
A summary of the permeability for pure asphalt as a transport medium.
Researchers Moisture diffusion coefficient ðcm2 =sÞ Water state
Nguyen et al. [63] 10 Liquid water
1.4–3.3 10
Cheng et al. [51] 1.33–4.83 105 Gaseous water
Wei [64] 1.34–4.51 1013 Liquid water
Vasconcelos [26] 0.97–3.98 1013 Liquid water
Note: FTIR represents the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy.
EIS represents the Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy.
USD represents the Universal Sorption Device.
Table 6
A summary of 3D numerical simulations of water transport for DGAMs.
Researchers Numerical Objects’ phases
models
Al-omariet al. [6] FDM Two-phase material: solids and air voids
Kutay [31] LBM Three-phase material: coarse aggregate, FAM and air voids
Masad et al. [24] FDM Two-phase material: solids and air voids
Arambula et al. [32] FEM FDM Three-phase material: coarse aggregate, fine portion and air voids
Varveri et al. [33] FEM Three-phase material: coarse aggregate, FAM and air voids

The color and microstructure of asphalt film surface was differ-
ent before and after the exposure to water [63,64];

In the test of liquid water transport for pure asphalt, gaseous
water was firstly detected by FTIR rather than liquid water
and liquid water transport showed history dependence because
of a larger initial contact angle between asphalt and water [26].
There are also two questions to face in the study of measuring
the permeability for DGAMs. One is whether or not the directly-
prepared asphalt mastic represents that in asphalt mixture effec-
tively and accurately. According to Table 4, the permeability of
asphalt mastic with NMAS 1.18 mm prepared by the pouring or
cored from the SGC specimens is at the same level, which possibly
implies that the action range of a compaction has its limitation.
Another is how thick pure asphalt film or asphalt binder (a mix
of asphalt and fines) film in asphalt mixtures is. These two ques-
tions are of importance to the study of water transport in asphalt
mixtures and its numerical simulation.
5. Numerical simulations of water transport in DGAMs
5.1. Modeling water transport in DGAMs
The introduction of X-ray CT allows researchers to analyze the
3D internal structure of asphalt mixtures in an accepted resolution
and conduct 3D numerical simulations of water transport in
asphalt mixtures, which have developed for a relatively short time.
Table 6 lists a summary of past numerical simulations of water
transport for DGAMs.
Applied methods of numerical simulations have the finite ele-
ment method (FEM), the finite difference method (FDM) and the
lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). The LBM is evolved from the
lattice-gas model (LGM) but superior to it since the LBM over-
comes noisy statistics and Galilean invariance in the LGM. It solves
the discretized Boltzmann equation of flow fluid like single-
relaxation Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook approximations. A lattice in
the modeling is just a voxel grid in a restructured model of a DGAM
by X-ray CT and the LBM’s boundary conditions (velocity or density
boundaries) are easily dealt. More details and applications are
referred to Succi [65], Wolf-Gladrow [66], M. Kutay [31] and etc.
the FEM and FDM belongs to the traditional computational fluid
dynamics methods (CFDMs), which discretize the Stokes or
1015
Testing method Model
FTIR Fick’s law
USD Moisture diffusion model based on diffusion theory
EIS Fick’s law
FTIR Fick’s law
X-ray CT resolution Voxel size (mm3)
(mm/pixel)
0.146 0.21  0.21  0.13
0.318 0.318  0.318  0.318
0.146 0.146  0.146  0.15
0.195 FEM & FDM: 1.0  1.0  1.0;
FDM: 0.195  0.195  0.195
N/A N/A
Navier-Stokes equations on a 3D mesh. The theoretical basis of
the CFDMs is referred to Thijssen [67]. In addition, the Raveling
of Asphalt Mixture (RoAM), a sub-system of the finite element sys-
tem, CAPA-3D, was also developed by the Delft University of Tech-
nology to simulate water transport and water damage in a quasi-
real model of asphalt mixtures. it is used to investigate water dam-
age in the ideal model of the OGAM [68] and then water transport
in the quasi-real model of the DGAM [33].
Generally, the CFDMs and LBM can to a larger extent obtain sat-
isfied results [53,69]. However, many differences exist in applying.
Comparing to the CFDMs, the LBM’s merit is that some errors
induced by mathematical transformations (like series truncation)
can be avoided so that the computational stability and efficiency
are improved in numerical simulations [70]. Moreover, Bultreys
et al. [71] pointed that, the LBM has obvious advantages in solving
a multi-phase transport than a single-phase one. Considering the
simple process of boundary conditions and the need of a parallel
computation in smaller meshes, the LBM should be the preferred
tool to simulate water transport in DGAMs.
A restructured structure of DGAMs by X-ray CT has two phases
(solids and air voids) or three phases (coarse aggregate, FAM and
air voids). The most frequently used structure in a simulation of
water transport for DGAMs is a two-phase one that neglects the
difference between behavior properties of coarse aggregates and
FAM in asphalt mixtures as well as the permeability of FAM. Even
so, some valuable conclusions are obtained:

The simulating results of the permeability for DGAMs are
mostly affected by interconnected percent air voids, gradations
and compactions.

The permeability of DGAMs is anisotropic in the horizontal and
vertical directions since air voids distribution in DGAMs is of
inhomogeneity [24,31];

The permeability for DGAMs kept overall constant with the
increasing of pressure gradient and the creeping flow domi-
nated the macroscopic flow rather than the inertial flow [24].
5.2. Deficiencies of numerical simulations on water transport in
DGAMs
Though water transport in DGAMs is partly understood, its
study is still limited by some deficiencies. Firstly, the accuracy of
1016 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018
quasi-real models by X-ray CT is not enough. The main reason is in
difficultly choosing right threshold values of gray levels among air
voids, FAM and aggregates in X-ray CT images. Table 7 lists parts of
applied threshold values. Hassan et al. [72] explained that: 1) fines,
bitumen and their uniform blend, as parts of asphalt mixture,
increased the variation in gray levels; 2) the difference in mineral
compositions of aggregate particles resulted in the fluctuation in
gray levels. The densities of mastic and aggregates were very close
to increase the difficulty of the image segmentation [73]. In addi-
tion, no single method can produce a good result in recognizing
air voids, mastic and aggregates from X-ray CT images of the
asphalt mixture [72]. And the manual identification was necessary
[74,75] to fit the ratio of designed weights of different components
in the DGAM.
In addition, quasi-real models mostly need to be refined when
conducting numerical simulations. By the sensitivity analysis, Al-
Omari et al. [6] found that permeability values were more stable
as an increase of pixels’ number in the reconstructed 3D model
of the DGAM. Generally, there are a horizontal resizing and a ver-
tical refining. The horizontal resizing is that horizontal pixels are
too small to be resized for a lager pixel [32]. On the contrast, due
to a large vertical scanning interval, vertical pixels are refined by
some techniques, such as the pixel intensity average technique
[6], the vertical duplication [24]t and he bilinear interpolation
[31]. All in all, the nature of two deficiencies in quasi-real models
is how to use X-ray CT for a reasonable 3D model directly.
Table 7
Gray intensity ranges applied in past studies of the DGAM using X-ray CT.
Researchers Gradation’s NMAS (mm)
Adhikan et al. [76] 12.5
Adhikai et al. [77] 12.5
Wang et al. [74] 16.0
Dong et al. [75] N/A
Ying et al. [78] 12.5
Note: AV, MP and AP represents air voids part, mastic part and aggregate part in asphalt mixture respectively.
Fig. 13. Moisture transport of the porous asphalt mixture (PA) and SMA after 0 h, 48 h, 120 h of saturation [33].
A numerical simulation process also has two questions to
solve. One question is whether or not the permeability of a
FAM phase in a simulation process can directly take that of
FAM with the same NMAS. Its reason is in the above section.
Another is if coarse aggregates should be as a transport medium
of water in a simulation process. Arambula et al. [32,53] and
Varveri et al. [33] took coarse aggregates as a medium of water
transport in the numerical simulation process. Fig. 13 showed
water transport for the reconstructed 3D model of the porous
asphalt mixture (PA) and SMA [33] (the colors, yellow, red and
blue in Fig. 13a and d represent aggregates, asphalt mastic and
air voids respectively; the color blue in Fig. 13b,c,e and f is
related to a saturation degree of water). This treatment is
obviously contradicted with the design theory of asphalt
pavements, which commonly requires dry aggregates after a
long-time drying treatment and excludes any invasion of water
to asphalt mixtures in mixing and construction processes. In a
few cases, however, water indeed enters into the inside of
aggregates in field. This also involves one truncation criterion
that is when one simulation process of water transport is
terminated. Commonly, water enters into the inside of asphalt
mastic and triggers cohesive damage; and then continues to
permeate and reaches the interface between asphalt and larger
aggregates, which unlocks adhesive damage. From this aspect,
one truncation criterion of water transport in DGAMs is very
necessary.
Mastic’s NMAS (mm) Gray intensity range
(AV:MP:AP/Grayscale)
2.36 0-124:125-203:204-255/256
1.18 0-124:125-201:202-255/256
0.6 0-124:125-192:193-255/256
0.3 0-124:125-187:188-255/256
2.36 0-40:41-120(139):121(140)-255/256
N/A 0-69:70-N/A:N/A-255/256
N/A 0-110:111-175:176-255/256
 Y. Pang, P. Hao / Construction and Building Materials 156 (2017) 1005–1018
6. Summary and recommendation on future work
X-ray CT greatly promotes the study of water transport in
DGAMs. This review looks back this promotion from the analysis
of the internal structure of DGAMs to the relationship between lab-
oratory compactions and a field compaction, to numerical simula-
tions of water transport in DGAMs. The following conclusions are
summarized:
1) Through X-ray CT, the characterizations of air voids and
aggregates distribution in DGAMs are well-understood. Gen-
erally, air voids distribution shows the ‘‘sparse middle and
dense ends” pattern and Aggregates’ segregation is under
control. However, the internal structure of asphalt mixtures
from different compactions (such as LKC, SGC, MC, VS, and
FCs) has larger differences, which is possibly an important
reason that a laboratory permeability cannot represent a
field permeability and the LKC is the most suitable to simu-
late a field compaction in the laboratory. This is supported
by the comparison of mechanical properties among them.
2) Water transport in DGAMs is studied from two aspects, gas-
eous and liquid water transport, and three types of transport
media, asphalt mixture, asphalt mastic and pure asphalt. The
permeability of DGAMs, based on gaseous and liquid water
transport is about at the same level. It is majorly based on
the Darcy’s law or the Fick’s law and its order of magnitude
is larger than 105 cm=s for asphalt mixtures, 108 cm2 =s for
asphalt mastic and 1013 cm2 =s for pure asphalt.
3) On basis of the restructured internal structure of DGAMs by
X-ray CT, numerical simulations of water transport are con-
ducted using the LBM and CFDMs (FDM and FEM). The LBM
is superior to the CFDMs on terms of boundary processes
and computation efficiency though it is applied very a few.
Although these outcomes are very encouraging, the recognition
to water transport in DGAMs has some defects and still needs a fur-
ther study. The future work should include:
1) From the mechanism of a field compaction, the extrusion
process of loose mixture in construction and the change of
its mechanical properties should be deeply analyzed to
improve existing laboratory compacting devices or develop
new ones. The criterion should be based on an approxima-
tion of a laboratory compaction to a field one on the internal
structure and mechanical properties of asphalt mixtures.
2) Restricted by the resolution of X-ray CT and scanning ways,
the restructured 3D model of a DGAM is quite different from
its real structure. Improving methods should focus on two
aspects. One is to establish a widely-accepted image seg-
mentation criterion that can divide three parts of DGAMs,
air voids, FAM and aggregates, effectively and correctly.
Another is on the resolution of X-ray CT. An obvious fact is
that this resolution cannot be increased infinitely.
1.18 mm-NMAS mastic from pouring and SGC compactions
is similar on the term of the permeability, which supports
that, no matter field or laboratory compactions, mastic with
a certain NMAS could not be affected on compaction meth-
ods. Thus, how to effectively use X-ray CT to eliminate this
difference is the key to establish a reasonable 3D model of
a DGAM and conduct numerical simulations of water
transport.
3) Some studies showed that there exists liquid water in many
experiments of gaseous water transport in DGAMs. Gaseous
and liquid water transport in DGAMs and their mixing
degree and evolvement in transport processes should be
1017
clarified. This will be a criterion of numerical simulations
of water transport for DGAMs. Additionally, water entering
to DGAMs is inevitable, but to allow less or no water to enter
into asphalt mixtures is feasible. On the basis of laboratory
testing and numerical simulations, to adjust a gradation
and improve compaction processes for better performance
and longer service life of asphalt pavements is in prospect.
Acknowledgement
The study in this paper is funded by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51478046). This support
is gratefully acknowledged.
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