Experimental and Numerical Study of Low Noise Porous Asphalt Pavement

To control and reduce noise pollution in heavily frequented urban areas, the urbane community of Limoges commissioned the use of a porous asphalt. This type of asphalt is characterized by its high void content (>20%) that confers numerous advantages like its swift drainage during wet weather in addition to its noise reduction properties. However, such material presents certain limitations regarding its durability and strength compared to a conventional one. This paper aims at determining the complex modulus of the porous asphalt commissioned using an experimental method and studying the influence of the variation of voids in numerical models. The numerical approach consists of a heterogeneous multiscale modeling of the studied material. The heterogeneous scales ranging from smallest to largest are mastic and HMA (hot mix asphalt). The models are treated in ABAQUS finite element code. It can perform the numerical calculations of the complex modulus and the phase angle at various frequencies. The experimental method consists of the tension/compression test using specimens that have been cored from slabs provided by the asphalt’s mixture manufacturer. The tests are conducted for various frequencies (0.1, 0.3, 1, 3, 10 Hz) and temperatures (−10, 0, 10, 15, 20 °C). The experimental results obtained showed that the complex modulus of the studied porous asphalt is almost 30% smaller than that of a BBSG (semi-coarse asphaltic concrete) for a temperature of 15 °C and a frequency of 10 Hz.