Field Study of the Relationship between Water Absorption of Limestone Aggregates and Asphalt Stripping Damage

The durability of asphalt pavements against environmental and traffic factors are closely related to the type of consumed materials. Also, adhesion of bitumen to aggregates is also very effective in the quality and durability of the implemented pavement which is related to the characteristics of aggregates such as type, specific gravity and water absorption. If this adhesion is not sufficiently enough, the stripping damage occurs in the manner that causes other failures. In this research, the stripping phenomena two years after operation is compared on the two road pavements implemented with limestone aggregates with different specific gravity and water absorption rates, while the other conditions are similar. The results show that the higher water absorption and lower specific gravity of aggregates increase the stripped aggregates and reduce the durability of asphalt mixture. Due to the huge cost of constructing roads, costs of maintenance and operation should be considered in addition to the cost of materials.