Asphalt Pavement Temperature Related to Arid Saudi Environment

Abstract

Temperature is known to be one of the most important factors affecting the design and performance of asphaltic concrete pavement. For a successful pavement design, it is vital to know the range of temperatures over which a pavement will be subjected. This is especially true for desert climates. Trends in solar radiation, air temperature, surface temperature, and temperature at different depths were measured for a 25‐cm coastal slab as well as 15 cm, 20 cm, and 30 cm inland slabs in the arid Saudi coastal and inland environment. Data were analyzed for seasonal and daily variations. Surface temperature was found to be less than the temperature at a depth of 2 cm only for hot summer months and at hours of high solar radiation. Pavement temperatures ranged between 3°C and 72°C for coastal slab, and between 4°C and 65°C for inland slabs. This wide range of temperature variation results in drastic variation of asphalt concrete modulus. As temperature increases from 30°C to 60°C, the resilient modulus reduces from 5,500 MPa to 800 MPa.