Simulação numérica do fluxo d’água em pavimentos flexíveis compostos por diferentes misturas asfálticas

Abstract

The water can reach the pavement in various ways such as by precipitation or by capillarity. The deleterious effect of water is a major factor responsible for the distresses in flexible pavements. An important parameter to verify the quality of the pavement with respect to water flow is the material permeability. In this context, this work aims to evaluate the water flow pattern in flexible pavements composed of different types of asphalt mixtures. With this purpose, a finite element program was used to model the flow of water in a hypothetical profile of a flexible pavement. Six types of asphalt mixtures with different air voids content were analyzed: four with dense gradation, two types of asphalt sand (7% and 9% air voids) and two types of asphalt concrete (4% and 7% air voids), and two types of open grade friction course mixtures (20% and 23% air voids). The results show that the flow pattern depends not only on the average permeability of the material, but also on the material permeability distribution.