Study on pore structure evolution and water damage of asphalt mixture under cyclic loading

For a long time, the water damage issues of asphalt mixture pavements have been highly regarded by engineers. However, the existing research is difficult to accurately describe the fatigue damage process of asphalt mixture under hydrodynamic pressure environments. In order to reveal the influence of water damage on the asphalt mixture structure and its mechanism, this study combined low-field NMR technology to investigate the evolution law of asphalt mixture pore structure under cyclic loading with different parameters. The erosion effect of the coupled loading-dynamic water environment on asphalt mixtures and their failure mechanisms are analyzed. The results show that the initial damage dominated by harmful pores and major-harm pores provides space for water migration and storage, and improves the sensitivity of asphalt mixture to water damage. Under the action of repeated cycles of stress increase-decrease, the irreversible hydrodynamic extrusion-cracking and friction-stripping deformations in the asphalt matrix increase. The micro-cracks inside the materials continue to expand and the pores are interconnected. To comprehensively consider the influence of initial porosity, maximum cyclic stress and the number of cycles, the cumulative damage model of the material is optimized based on the mechanism of pore structure evolution, and obtained more accurate porosity prediction results. This study can provide scientific reference and guidance for solving the problem of asphalt pavement disease and durability design.