A Comparison Study between Porous and Conventional Asphalt Concrete Mixtures

Asphalt concrete is the surface layer, which lay to carry the vehicles above & to transfer the loads effectively without experiencing any significant deformations. This research offers a comparison between porous and conventional asphalt mixtures in physical and service properties. Porous asphalt is an environmentally friendly mix for water runoff management, which can perform similarly to that of other pavements. It can be designed for road construction projects that can carry moderate traffic loads, while the conventional flexible pavement is designed for different projects with higher carrying ability to traffic loads. In this research, a total of 39 asphalt mixture specimens have been used to evaluate the volumetric and service properties for both types of asphalt mixtures; namely, stability, air voids, flow, and indirect tensile strength to reveal the essential differences among them. There is a considerable variation in physical and service properties of both types of asphalt concrete; in general, conventional asphalt concrete tends to have the best physical properties in the lab. The results show that conventional asphalt mixture is more efficient and durable than the porous asphalt but at the same time, porous asphalt mixture can be implemented in heavy rainfall regions regardless of traffic volume.