Low temperature asphalt (LTA) technologies, such as warm-mixed asphalt mixes, are utilized in the paving industry to lower energy demands and greenhouse gas emissions during asphalt mixing and pavement construction. However, the asphalt mixes developed that incorporate LTA additives are more sensitive than hot-mixed asphalts to temperature reduction during compaction, which leads to inadequate compaction and subsequent poor pavement performance. The induction heating-assisted compaction of pavement structures appears to be an effective way to ameliorate such issues and to improve mix compactability at lower temperatures. Considering that induction-assisted compaction is a complex process, a computational methodology is proposed in this paper. A porous asphalt concrete mix was considered as case material. For the pavement compaction analyses after induction, the temperature field generated by electromagnetic induction was predicted and the material parameters of asphalt mortar were adjusted. The effect of induction heating on asphalt compaction effectiveness, the tendency of mix density changing, the increase in compactor passes, and the influence of temperature on compaction at different locations in the pavement were studied as well.@en

Low Temperature Asphalt (LTA) technologies are utilized in asphalt pavement industry to lower energy demands and greenhouse gas emission during mixing and construction processes. Although these technologies are currently available and hope to demonstrate similar performance with Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixes, LTA shows more sensitive than HMA to temperature reduction during compaction and that will lead to inadequate compaction. Especially for Low Temperature Porous Asphalt (LTPA) mixes, the quick reduction of mix temperature is the main cause to poor pavements performance. The induction heating assisted compaction process appears to be an effective way to ameliorate compaction issues and to improve the compactability at lower temperatures. To design this process for LTA mixes, a numerical approach of combining the finite and the discrete element methods is presented in this paper. Porous asphalt concrete was the selected study material. The simulation process was divided into three steps: (i) temperature field prediction during induction heating, (ii) adjustment of asphalt mortar parameters and (iii) asphalt pavement compaction analysis. The effect of induction heating to asphalt compaction effectiveness, the tendency of mix density changing along with the increase of compactor passes and the influence of temperature on compaction at different locations in pavement were studied and discussed as well@en