“MOLECULAR DYNAMICS MODELING AND SIMULATION OF BITUMEN CHEMICAL AGING”

Chemical aging of asphalt binder leads to significant changes in its mechanical and rheological properties, resulting in poor pavement behavior and distress. The two main outcomes of chemical aging are oxidation of asphalt molecules, and change in asphalt constituent fractions. This study uses molecular dynamic simulations to investigate the effect of each aging process on the properties of asphalt binder.