Investigation on physical and chemical parameters to predict long-term aging of asphalt binder

The objective of this paper is to investigate and determine the critical physical and chemical parameters corresponded with long-term aging of asphalt binder in both laboratory and field. Firstly, the basic properties, rheological properties, component analysis and functional group analysis were conducted to determine the critical physical and chemical parameters of long-term PAV aged binder in laboratory. Secondly, the asphalt binders in field with different service life are extracted and comparatively analysed with laboratory aged binder. Lastly, the critical physical and chemical parameters of aged asphalt were determined and discussed. The results indicate that viscosity ratio can be used as indicator to predict the aging of asphalt binder in both laboratory and field. Furthermore, the carbonyl area index can be used as a chemical indicator to effectively reflect the aging level of asphalt binder. The results of this paper will help to gain a better understanding of the long-term aging behavior of asphalt binder both in laboratory and in field pavement and provide methods to determine the optimal preventive maintenance time for aged asphalt pavement in service.