Effect of Two Organic Phase Change Materials on the Thermal Performance of Asphalt Pavements

Higher temperature is one of the key reasons for thermal distresses in asphalt pavement. It also adds to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect as it influences the near-surface air temperature. To design cooler pavements, phase change materials (PCMs) can be incorporated into asphalt pavements. However, considering the negative effects of PCM leakage on the physical and rheological properties of asphalt binder, a cent-percent effective core-shell encapsulated PCM suitable for asphalt pavement applications was developed under this study. With the incorporation of two organic mixture (OM) based PCMs, i.e., OM-35 and OM-42, a peak decrease in the pavement surface temperature of 3.05 degrees C and 4.36 degrees C, respectively were observed under the field condition. Furthermore, from the long-term thermal performance assessment, it was found that the magnitude of temperature reduction depends on the phase change temperature and latent heat of PCM. The season of occurrence of the peak temperature reduction depends on the phase change temperature of the PCM. Due to PCM solidification, the increase in night-time pavement surface temperature was observed to be about half of that during day time. Further, the statistical analysis reveals that the decrease in pavement surface temperature due to PCM incorporation is significant and consistent.