BITUMINOUS PAVEMENT TEMPERATURE RELATED TO CLIMATE

PAVEMENT TEMPERATURES WERE DOCUMENTED IN A NORTHERN CLIMATE ON A METHOD OF PAVEMENT TEMPERATURE PREDICTION USING DIGITAL SIMULATION. A 6-IN. AND A 12-IN. THICK TEST PAVEMENT OF DENSE-GRADED HIGH-TYPE BITUMINOUS MIX WAS FULLY INSTRUMENTED WITH THERMOCOUPLES TO MEASURE FOR A FULL YEAR AT 5-MIN INTERVALS THE TEMPERATURE PATTERNS RESULTING FROM EXPOSURE TO AN ACTUAL CLIMATE. THE PAVEMENT TEMPERATURES RECORDED WERE SUMMARIZED TO INDICATE THE DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURES WITH DEPTH AND TIME. THE TEMPERATURES WERE ALSO RELATED TO IMPORTANT CLIMATE PARAMETERS, INCLUDING CHANGES IN AIR TEMPERATURE AND IN THE SOLAR ENERGY RECEIVED BY THE PAVEMENT. ANALYSIS OF GRADIENTS AND TEMPERATURE EXTREMES CLEARLY INDICATES THE NEED FOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS ON THE VERY SURFACE OF THE PAVEMENT FOR CORRELATION WITH SOLAR ENERGY RECEIVED. A DIGITAL SIMULATION MODEL OF HEAT FLOW INTO THE PAVEMENT WAS DEVELOPED FOR COMPUTER SOLUTION. THIS MAKES POSSIBLE THE PREDICTION OF PAVEMENT TEMPERATURES GIVEN SPECIFIC CLIMATE PARAMETERS. SUCH AN INVESTIGATIVE TOOL CAN BE USED TO EXTEND PAVEMENT TEMPERATURE KNOWLEDGE IN LIEU OF LONG AND TEDIOUS TEMPERATURE OBSERVATIONS OF ACTUAL PAVEMENTS. /AUTHOR/