Book Description

Even though moisture sensitivity of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixtures has been recognized as a major form of distress in asphalt concrete pavements since the advent of asphalt paving technology, the mechanism of this problem has not been clearly identified until now. However, it has been agreed that it can be characterized by the loss of adhesive bond between the asphalt binder and the aggregate or by a softening of the cohesive bonds within the asphalt binder, both of which are due to the action of loading under traffic in the presence of moisture. The evaluation of Hot Mix Asphalt moisture sensitivity has been divided into two categories: visual inspection test and mechanical test. However, most of them have been developed in pre-Superpave mix design. This research was conducted to develop a new test protocol which can overcome the problems of the current procedures and to evaluate the possibility of using the Nottingham Asphalt Tester (NAT) in the resulting procedure.