Influence of air voids characteristics on the hydraulic conductivity of asphalt mixture

In this paper, the topological properties of air voids in asphalt mixture: air void content, average void diameter, Euler number, genus, enclosed cavities, percolation number, aspect ratio, circularity and tortuosity were analysed using X-ray tomography scans and related to the hydraulic conductivity of a wide range of asphalt mixtures representative of those commonly used in practice. It was observed that hydraulic conductivity in the range of asphalt mixtures studied (air void content from 10% to 26%) is mostly related to the air void content, while the topological parameters (e.g. tortuosity or aspect ratio) are not the primary factors affecting hydraulic conductivity.