By
Pradip Kandel
Build Change,
Kathmandu, Nepal
1. ABSTRACT
In this paper, an overview of the advances in findings regarding the study of the self-healing mechanism in the bituminous binder with emphasis on its implicationin the durability of the asphaltic pavements is presented. The pavement losses itsstrength, durability and required level of performance due to fatigue failure of the asphaltic layers under the repeated cycles of traffic loading ,temperature extremities, environmental factors such as moisture, rainfall etc. The ‘’self-healing’’ of the pavements eliminates the premature ageing and failure of the pavements and hence reduces the need of the frequent and costly maintenance of the pavements lowering the life cycle cost, eliminates the obstruction in the smooth traffic flow due to maintenance and rehabilitation. The basic principle behind the self-healing is using the material property to detect the progressing damage and repair the damage(itself or by external intervention). Several projects were conducted in the TU Delft regarding bacterial healing of the concrete, fiber reinforced cementiousmaterials. Also, the practice such as mixing rejuvenator microcapsules in the mix, Induction heating (steel wool fiber mixed in bitumen).The self-healing of the pavements has yet not been fully understood and still under research. Many of the researches whetherit be by F. hammoum etal., by Feng Su et al., by Enieb et al.,Gracia et al. ,by Barrasa et. al. give several important understanding about the self-healing mechanism in the flexible asphalt pavements .This paper goes through the important researches, findings and gaps and shortcomings in them and publications till now regarding the aforementioned topic .