Micromechanical Study of Porosity Effects on Coupled Moisture-Mechanical Responses of Viscoelastic Asphalt Concrete
Publication: Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 147, Issue 9
Abstract
The present paper offers a micromechanical modeling approach to evaluate the impact of the porosity structure on the response of asphalt concrete as a viscoelastic multiphase material under the combined action of moisture diffusion and mechanical loading. Moisture infiltrates and degrades asphalt concrete material properties and encourages the fast propagation of cracks upon additional mechanical loading. The critical impacts of the porosity structure on the coupled moisture-mechanical responses of asphalt concrete have been highlighted by both experimental and numerical studies. It is therefore imperative to develop a clear understanding of the various impacts that the porosity has on the overall performance of this viscoelastic composite. In this work, a micromechanical modeling approach is used in combination with a methodology to randomly generate realistic pore properties within an asphalt concrete specimen. The relevant effects of the porosity structure are assessed for two sets of moisture diffusion coefficients representing low-end and high-end diffusivities for the aggregates and matrix. Finite-element models are developed using coupled nonlinear viscoelastic–moisture damage–mechanical damage constitutive relationships. The effects of varying the pore content, shape, and size distribution on the stress distribution and damage evolution within asphalt concrete specimens are assessed. A numerical approach is also presented to estimate the effective moisture diffusivity of asphalt concrete as a function of the pore shape and content. The outcome sheds light on our understanding of how the porosity structure of asphalt concrete affects its moisture-mechanical responses.
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Data Availability Statement
Some data, models, or code generated or used during the study are available from the corresponding author by request (i.e., void generating algorithms and MATLAB code, UMAT code, and all simulations output data).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the support for this paper by the Virginia Tech Start-up funding. The authors would also like to acknowledge Advanced Research Computing at Virginia Tech for providing computational resources and technical support that have contributed to the results reported within this paper. URL: http://www.arc.vt.edu.
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Published In
Journal of Engineering Mechanics
Volume 147 • Issue 9 • September 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 23, 2020
Accepted: Apr 5, 2021
Published online: Jul 15, 2021
Published in print: Sep 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Dec 15, 2021
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Cited by
- Yiren Sun, Zhuang Zhang, Hongren Gong, Changjun Zhou, Jingyun Chen, Baoshan Huang, 3D Multiscale Modeling of Asphalt Pavement Responses under Coupled Temperature–Stress Fields, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, 10.1061/(ASCE)EM.1943-7889.0002089, 148, 3, (2022).