Optimizing the Highway Lifetime by Improving the Self Healing Capacity of Asphalt

Abstract

It is of imminent urgency to optimize the lifetime of asphalt binders from the remaining available crude sources. This paper presents a recently developed model in which the self-healing capacity of bitumen is based on fundamental chemo-mechanical parameters. The implications of the enhanced bitumen healing rates are investigated by utilizing a newly developed Open Life Cycle Assessment framework. From the case study it was concluded that using bitumen with self-healing capacity can lead to a significant reduction in Greenhouse Gas emission and energy usage. Additionally, the importance of knowing the fuels and emission of bitumen modifiers on the highway sustainability was demonstrated.