Effects of Pressure and Aging in SATS Test
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 11
Abstract
The saturation aging tensile stiffness (SATS) test has been developed to quantify the moisture damage of a range of U.K. asphalt mixtures. In order to combine the effects of moisture and aging, the test is undertaken at an elevated temperature and pressure in the presence of moisture. This paper describes a procedure developed to investigate in detail the effects of aging, pressure, and moisture damage on results from the SATS test. An aging factor has been determined that captures the increase in stiffness modulus due to hardening that occurs at the elevated temperature and pressure. This factor ranges from 1.38 for a dry specimen to approximately 1.2 for a fully saturated specimen. A pressure factor has been determined that captures decreases in stiffness modulus due to pressure. Results show that the pressure factor is lower for the asphalt containing the basic aggregate, indicating a greater sensitivity to pressure compared to the mixture containing the acidic aggregate. The depressurization temperature in the SATS test protocol was reduced from to minimize this effect. A moisture factor was calculated, which is a measure of the moisture sensitivity of the asphalt mixture. Results showed that the moisture factor was significantly lower for the asphalt containing the acidic aggregate, indicating greater moisture sensitivity.
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References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 133 • Issue 11 • November 2007
Pages: 618 - 624
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 18, 2006
Accepted: Apr 18, 2007
Published online: Nov 1, 2007
Published in print: Nov 2007
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