The Effect Of Water On Bituminous Mixtures

Water related damage in bituminous pavements is a major distress form in any road design. One of the main causes of distress in asphalt pavements is damage due to water (Dow, 2008). This study will focus on laboratory work on the effect of water on bituminous mixtures. Presence of water can cause loss of strength and durability of the bituminous mixtures. The loss of adhesion between the bitumen and the aggregates is a mechanism acknowledged by the highway engineers called stripping. The stripping is one type of moisture damage which in turn contributes to the damage of pavement thus shortening its service life. Study needs to be conducted in conjunction of dealing with the moisture effect. Therefore, the use of retained stability ratio obtained from laboratory tests is useful to determine quantitatively the moisture damage on bituminous mixes. Different types of binders are chosen that are a virgin bitumen of 80pen grade and polymer modified bitumen and comparisons are made between them.