Numerical modelling of rutting performance of asphalt concrete pavement containing phase change material

This paper aims to propose a systematic numerical modelling framework to quantify the effects of phase change material (PCM) on the early-stage rutting performance of asphalt concrete pavement. Materials, structures, environments and traffic loads of the pavement system were characterized, modelled and implemented into a finite element model. Hourly variations in environmental and traffic conditions for the pavement structure were considered. The temperature profile in the pavement was calculated from a finite-difference heat transfer model, while the frequency distributions of traffic loads were obtained from the artificial intelligence-based finite element model updating. Based on the results, the accumulated rut depth in the asphalt concrete after the first week of pavement service was reduced by 4% by adding only 3% PEG/SiO2 PCM in the top sublayer of the asphalt concrete course. This study demonstrated that via advanced methodologies such as artificial intelligence and finite element simulation and model updating, the effectiveness of using PCM to control asphalt concrete pavement rutting performance can be evaluated.