Evaluation of moisture conditioning effect on damage recovery of asphalt mixtures during rest time application

•Using energy methods in assessing the damage recovery of asphalt concrete.•Studying the interaction of moisture damage and healing phenomenon.•Studying the effects of aging, temperature and rest time on the moisture susceptibility.•Introducing a recovery index based on the energy parameter of (NDCSE).

In the present research it has been attempted to investigate how the damage recovery potential of asphalt mixture scan be affected by moisture conditioning. To this end, the cyclic IDT tests were conducted on moisture conditioned and dry specimens under a combination of parameters such as temperature, aging and rest time and a new energy parameter named as normalized dissipated creep strain energy was used. According to this new parameter, moisture conditioning the specimens does not significantly affect their damage recovery potential for a constant load to strength ratio. Rest time and aging are the most influential factors on the damage recovery potential. Aging the specimens, considerably decreases their ability to recover and also decreases the effects of moisture conditioning and temperature change on this ability.