Moisture sensitivity examination of asphalt mixtures using thermodynamic, direct adhesion peel and compacted mixture mechanical tests

Moisture damage in asphalt mixtures is a complicated mode of pavement distress that results in the loss of stiffness and structural strength of the asphalt pavement layers. This paper evaluated the moisture sensitivity of different aggregate–bitumen combinations through three different approaches: surface energy, peel adhesion and the Saturation Ageing Tensile Stiffness (SATS) tests. In addition, the results obtained from these three tests were compared so as to characterise the relationship between the thermodynamic and the mechanical tests. The surface energy tests showed that the work of adhesion in dry conditions was bitumen type dependent, which is in agreement with the peel test. After moisture damage, all of these three tests found that the moisture sensitivity of aggregate–bitumen combinations were mainly aggregate type dependent. Based on the peel test, the moisture absorption and mineralogical compositions of aggregate were considered as two important factors to moisture sensitivity. This phenomenon suggests that in a susceptible asphalt mixture, the effect of aggregate may be more influential than the effect of bitumen. The SATS test and the peel test showed similar moisture sensitivity results demonstrating the good correlation between these two mechanical tests. However, the surface energy tests and the mechanical tests cannot correlate in terms of moisture sensitivity evaluation

Safety impact of application of auxiliary lanes at downstream locations of Thai U-turns

To assess the safety impact of auxiliary lanes at downstream locations of U-turns, the Traffic Conflict Technique was used. On the basis of the installed components at those locations, four types of U-turns were identified: those without any auxiliary lane, those with an acceleration lane, those with outer widening, and those with both an acceleration lane and outer widening. The available crash data is unreliable, therefore to assess the level of road safety, Conflict Indexes were formulated to put more emphasis on severe crashes than on slight ones by using two types of weighting coefficients. The first coefficient was based on the subjective assessment of the seriousness of the conflict situation and the second was based on the relative speed and angle between conflicting streams. A comparatively higher Conflict Index value represents a lower level of road safety. According to the results, a lower level of road safety occurs if two components apply or if a location is without any auxiliary lane. The highest level of road safety occurs if the layout includes only a single component, either an acceleration lane or outer widening