A Synthesis of Computational and Experimental Approaches of Evaluating Chemical, Physical, and Mechanistic Properties of Asphalt Binders

Abstract

Asphalt binder is a very complex chemical compound. Much work has been done to understand and model its chemical, morphological, rheological, and mechanical features. This paper synthesizes and presents findings from pertinent studies available in the public domain. Understanding of asphalt characteristics at the very finite level is the first critical step to develop a better macroscopic- or pavement-level performance model. This paper showcases a summary of current knowledge gained on (a) how chemical elemental compositions and molecular groups play critical roles in asphalt binder’s performance in pavement composites; (b) morphological properties and their relationships with the asphalt’s structural performance; and (c) mechanistic characteristics of asphalt binder’s at nanoscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic levels, and how they are related to macroscopic- or pavement-level performance.