Self-healing behavior of asphalt system based on molecular dynamics simulation

Abstract

The molecular model of asphalt binder was established by means of molecular dynamics (MD). The MD model was validated with respect of density, glass transition temperature, viscosity and solubility parameters. An interface system was created by inserting a vacuum pad of 50 Å between 2 groups of asphalt binders to study the self-healing behavior of the asphalt binder, e.g. internal volume, diffusion rate of each component and energy variation of the model. The molecular diffusion of aged asphalt binder, SBS modified asphalt binder, and virgin asphalt binder are studied. The results show that the ‘‘compression” of asphalt binder volume and the ‘‘stretching” of the asphalt binder molecules is responsible for the disappearance of vacuum micro-cracks inside the asphalt binder. When the model volume is ‘‘compressed”, the volume of the asphalt model decreases until the micro-cracks in the asphalt binder disappear completely. The molecular volume of asphalt decreases greatly at the beginning of the MD simulation, and then becomes stable. The length of asphalt model increases in the OZ direction, while the length of the OX and OY directions decreases, indicating that asphalt ‘‘stretces” during the selfhealing process.