Characterization on the mesostructural distribution of asphalt mixtures via digital image processing and relation to macroscopic performances

Abstract

The distribution characteristics of the mesostructure of asphalt mixtures have an important influence on the macroscopic performance of asphalt mixtures. In this study, by means of industrial computed tomography and voxel analysis, the distribution of voids and skeleton microstructure of asphalt mixture is characterized from multiple perspectives. The relationship between mesostructural characteristic parameters and macroscopic properties of asphalt mixtures was established by the indirect tensile test, uniaxial compression test, and digital image correlation test. The results show that the mesostructural distribution of the voids of different types of asphalt mixtures shows a certain degree of transverse isotropy. Air voids content and fractal dimension of voids are the mesostructural characteristic parameters that affect the cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures at low temperatures. The air voids content has a negative exponential relationship with the strength of asphalt mixture. When the void fractal dimension is 1.3, the splitting tensile strength of asphalt mixture reaches the maximum value. Skeleton structure is a mesostructure characteristic parameter that affects the high temperature stability of asphalt mixture. The lower voids in coarse aggregate skeletons and degree of anisotropy are positively correlated with the uniaxial compressive strength. After voids in coarse aggregate skeletons are lower than 35 %, the uniaxial compressive strength of asphalt mixture is significantly improved. The proposed skeleton evaluation index can effectively characterize the material composition differences of different types of asphalt mixtures. The strain cloud diagram of the digital correlation experiment shows the place where the void distribution first reached the maximum strain of about 0.003 during loading, and the high strain area corresponds to the void centroid distribution. The air voids centroid distribution is the mesostructural characteristic parameter of the indirect tensile strain distribution.