Investigation of Oxygen Diffusion Behavior in Asphalt Mixtures Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations and Laboratory Test
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 9
Abstract
The long-term durability of asphalt pavements is closely related to the oxidative aging of asphalt binders. Oxidative aging depends on the oxygen diffusion in asphalt mixtures. To further investigate oxidation reactions and guide the design of age-resistant asphalt mixtures, we conducted a combined experimental and molecular dynamics (MD) study to investigate the oxygen diffusion in the asphalt mixture and to analyze the effects of volumetric characteristics of the asphalt mixture and environmental factors on the oxygen diffusion. A diffusion apparatus was used to measure oxygen diffusion in compacted asphalt mixtures. MD simulations were performed on the asphalt mixture-oxygen diffusion model to simulate the oxygen transport process. The results showed that oxygen diffusion was influenced by the temperature, oxygen concentration, air void, and height of the asphalt mixture. The intrinsic mechanism was that the temperature accelerated the oxygen transport by increasing the self-diffusion coefficient of the oxygen molecules. Although the oxygen concentration did not affect the oxygen self-diffusion coefficient, it increased the oxygen base, which in turn increased the number of oxygen molecules passing through the asphalt mixture. Moreover, the increased air voids of the asphalt mixture decreased the obstruction in the oxygen diffusion process and increased its transmission speed, whereas the increase in the height of the asphalt mixture increased the oxygen transmission path, thereby reducing the oxygen transmission efficiency. The results of MD simulation were consistent with the experimental results. Therefore, it is feasible to use MD simulations to investigate diffusion behavior of oxygen in asphalt mixtures.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request: (1) the simulation data of oxygen diffusion tests in asphalt mixtures; and (2) the experimental data of oxygen diffusion tests in asphalt mixtures.
Acknowledgments
This study is sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51878162), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52278442), the Innovation and Development Foundation of Tianlu Co., Ltd. (Grant No. XZ 2019 TL-G-01), and the Jiangsu transportation science and technology project [2020Y19-1(1)], to which the authors are very grateful.
Author contributions: Lijun Sun contributed to the software, investigation, and writing the original draft. Xingyu Gu contributed to the conceptualization, methodology, resources. Yong Wen contributed to the methodology and resources. Qiao Dong contributed to the investigation. Dongliang Hu contributed to the writing (review and editing) and supervision.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 9 • September 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 26, 2022
Accepted: Feb 14, 2023
Published online: Jun 22, 2023
Published in print: Sep 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Nov 22, 2023
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