Influência de elevadas temperaturas no comportamento de revestimentos asfálticos empregados no município de Caraúbas-RN

In the middle of the social and economic development of the country the pavement industry requires the development of techniques and processes that involve a deep evaluation of the aspects that the pavement will be exposed in order to keep the structure in good condition during its useful life. In this sense, an important factor that is often not taken into account in the performance of asphalt revetment, is the temperature at which the asphalt mixture will be subjected during the service life, something that has great relevance given the viscoelastic characteristic of the asphalt binder (one of the components of the asphalt mixture). Taking into account that the city of Caraúbas-RN, located in the Brazilian northeast, has a high ambient temperature, this work aims to evaluate the effect of these temperatures on the behavior of asphalt revetment used in the city. For this, the methodology used is experimental, through measurements of temperature in some roads of the city of Northeastern Brazil. Thus, in order to better represent the conditions to which the asphalt mixtures implanted in the municipality are submitted, measurements were made at different depths, as well as at different times of the day. Thus, the relationship between the revetment temperature versus the air temperature at the surface of the revetment was carried out, as well as between the temperatures at the different depths of the coating and the time along the day of the collection. The results revealed that the temperature of the coating depends on the depth, time of day, atmospheric conditions and the presence or absence of large residences in the road where it is implanted. As there is a correlation between the measured temperatures at certain depths of the coating and the measurements on its surface, a function can be established that determines the temperature at a depth in detriment of the air temperature at the surface of the coating. In addition, the study indicates that the temperatures found in the city, inside the revetment, are quite high and even higher than the ambient temperatures, making it necessary to establish an asphalt mixture in the city of Caraúbas-RN that is to be resistant to temperatures above 60 ° C and its effects.