Evaluation of Micro-Climate Effects on Surfacing Seal Performance
Publication: Road Pavement and Material Characterization, Modeling, and Maintenance
Abstract
It is well-known that the properties of bituminous materials that are exposed to external environmental conditions such as solar radiation, diurnal temperature fluctuations and rain changes during its service life. Surfacing seals consist of a combination of bitumen and aggregate, and are used to provide a all-weather surfacing to protect underlying layers and provide safe access to vehicles traveling on a road. Analysis of a number of sections in Gauteng, South Africa, has shown that surfacing seals lost a large proportion of their aggregate where the road was crossed by a bridge. As all original properties of the seal components as well as the traffic on the road were similar, it was deduced that the micro-climate where the road traveled underneath the bridge should have caused this localized failure condition. In this paper the phenomenon is investigated through analysis of the material properties of the surfacing seal, the micro-climate underneath the bridge and the combined effect of these factors on the performance of the seal. It is shown that the micro-climate can affect the performance of a otherwise suitable surfacing seal to such an extent that the performance of the seal is severely compromised.
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Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Aggregates
- Asphalts
- Bridge components
- Bridge engineering
- Climates
- Disaster risk management
- Disasters and hazards
- Engineering materials (by type)
- Environmental engineering
- Hazardous substances
- Highway and road conditions
- Highway and road management
- Highway transportation
- Infrastructure
- Man-made disasters
- Material mechanics
- Material properties
- Materials engineering
- Pavements
- Structural engineering
- Traffic engineering
- Traffic management
- Traffic safety
- Transportation engineering
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