Comparing Laboratory Pressure Aging Vessel Conditioning to Field Aging of Asphalt Binder within Compacted Mixtures

• Published in: Journal of materials in civil engineering 2019-11, Vol.31 (11)
• Main Authors: Smith, Braden T, Bazuhair, Rabeea W, Daranga, Codrin, Baumgardner, Gaylon L, Howard, Isaac L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aging; Asphalt; Asphalt mixes; Building materials; Civil engineering; Conditioning; Configurations; Geographical locations; Simulation; Specifications; Technical Papers; Vessels
• ISSN: 0899-1561; 1943-5533
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0002926

AbstractAsphalt purchase specifications have used 20-h pressure aging vessel (PAV) protocols to simulate later age binder properties for decades. Industrywide changes have introduced complexities when simulating field aging of asphalt binders, and the severity of conditioning protocols is a common discussion topic. This paper evaluates five field aging configurations in which compacted asphalt mixtures were aged in the same location (Columbus, Mississippi) between 2011 and 2016. Experiments like this, in which 10 different asphalt mixtures are evaluated for aging in one geographic location over five calendar years, are uncommon in the literature. Overall, the five aging configurations were best simulated by 3–11 h of PAV conditioning per year with 20 PAV hours simulating less than 5 years of aging in all but one of the five configurations. Ultimately, changing purchase specification binder conditioning methods would shift binder properties across the market, but changing specified PAV conditioning times cannot decrease the aging variability as seen in this one experimental location over a 5-year period.