Laboratory investigation on thermal and road performances of asphalt mixture containing glass microsphere

Abstract

To decrease the solar radiation heat entering the pavement, glass microsphere (GM) was selected as filler to replace limestone mineral filler (LMF) to improve the thermal resistance of asphalt mixture. The influence of GM on the thermal performance of asphalt pavement was studied by testing the thermal conductivity of asphalt mixture. It is found that the thermal conductivity could be reduced by 23.4%, which was beneficial to improve the cooling effect of asphalt pavement. A series of test, including dynamic repeated creep test, three-point bending test, dynamic modulus test and semi-circular bending test, were used to evaluate the influence of GM on the deformation resistance, low-temperature cracking resistance, dynamic performance and fatigue life of asphalt mixture. The results show that replacing LMF with GM negatively affected the above road performances of asphalt mixture. In further studies the actual rutting resistance of asphalt pavement with GM should be investigated by considering the cooled pavement structure and the elastic/creep performances of asphalt mixture.