Under moisture exposure, asphalt road surfaces are susceptible to multiple deterioration mechanisms, which diminish their service performance and considerably reduce their service life. To address the existing issues such as the unclear understanding of the effects of moisture on the functional performance of asphalt pavements and the mechanisms governing their deterioration under actual construction conditions, this paper provides a comprehensive review focusing on the mechanisms of moisture-induced damage in asphalt pavements, the performance evolution of asphalt and asphalt mixtures under moisture exposure, the deterioration behavior of pavements under coupled environmental conditions, and corresponding prevention and mitigation strategies. Comprehensive analysis indicates that moisture induces the dissolution and migration of asphalt components, resulting in the reduction of adhesion between the binder and aggregate. Meanwhile, it accelerates physicochemical processes such as volatilization, oxidation, and sulfidation during the aging phase, thereby disrupting the equilibrium state of asphalt colloidal system and consequently impairing their rheological and viscoelastic properties. The prolonged exposure of asphalt mixtures to moisture results in more pronounced deterioration of elevated-temperature resistance. Both the low-temperature splitting strength and stiffness modulus decrease progressively with increasing moisture exposure duration, and higher water temperatures exacerbate performance degradation. Under long-term moisture conditioning, compressive strength, tensile strength ratio, the indirect tensile strength, failure stiffness modulus, and cohesion of asphalt mixtures all exhibit significant reductions. Moreover, moisture-induced deterioration intensifies the progression of fatigue cracking in aged asphalt, while synergistic interactions among diverse environmental stressors amplify bituminous composite characteristic degradation. Moisture-induced deterioration within bituminous roadways may be mitigated through material modification, optimized mixture design, structural enhancement of pavement systems, and the implementation of intelligent monitoring technologies. In the future, the focus will be on multi-scale characterization, coupled accelerated evaluation, and life-cycle modeling to enable more efficient and cost-effective full life-cycle management of asphalt pavements.
Fu et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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