X-ray computed tomography in hydraulics of asphalt mixtures: Procedure, accuracy, and application

A combination of advances both with respect to experimental techniques as well as image processing procedures accurately describes moisture distribution in the internal structure of asphalt mixtures using X-ray computed tomography technology. The quantitative and qualitative X-ray CT results for partially saturated asphalt mixtures are displayed, which is obtained with different test parameters of X-ray CT and sample sizes to demonstrate the effect of these parameters on measurement accuracy of the hydraulics of asphalt mixtures using X-ray CT images, considering the aspects of both image resolution and contrast. In addition, we present several applications of our two-dimensional X-ray CT images before and after saturation, which analyzes the moisture distribution in the micro-scale of asphalt mixtures with various loading sizes and speed. This method provides an effective opportunity to reveal the dynamic/static water distribution characteristics on the micro-scale of asphalt mixtures and verify various numerical modeling methods.