The mechanisms of moisture damage in asphalt pavement by applying chemistry aspects

Moisture damage occurring within asphalt pavement causes the pavement to undergo several types of distress, such as stripping, potholes, and others. The durability or integrity related to moisture damage plays an important role in other types of damage or distress, such as rutting and fatigue. The development of a Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) moisture damage test is the result of an effort to estimate the moisture damage in a simple, practical testing setup. As a conceptual supporting step, in turn, this paper provides fundamental, general mechanisms to explain the asphalt-aggregate bond behaviors during wet conditions in a DSR moisture damage test. Shear-thickening and thixotropy are introduced to explain the asphalt-aggregate interface behaviors under wet conditions, in view of a colloidal system. Moreover, the self-assembly concept is introduced with regard to a supramolecular system. Both systems can be associatively applicable because of their conceptual similarities. The analysis of data recorded during wet conditions supports and explains qualitatively the reversible structure of the asphalt-aggregate interface.