A falling-pressure method for measuring air permeability of asphalt in laboratory

Abstract

This paper presents a simple analytical solution for estimating air permeability using the test data obtained by a falling-pressure method in laboratory. The perimeter of the column-shaped sample is fixed in a steel cylinder with the upper sample surface open to the atmosphere. The lower surface of the sample and the cylinder form an air chamber. A water manometer is connected to the air chamber to measure the air pressure inside after the chamber is pressurized. The data of pressure versus time in the air chamber are recorded and analyzed. An approximate analytical solution is derived to describe the pressure-time relationship in the air chamber. The air permeability can be easily estimated using the approximate analytical solution based on the linear least-squares fitting to the recorded pressure-time test data. This method is used to estimate the falling-pressure test data of 15 asphalt samples. The agreement between the test data and the analytical prediction is satisfactory for all the samples. To investigate the error caused by the approximate analytical solution, the air permeabilities are also estimated based on fully numerical solutions. The permeability values obtained from analytical and numerical solutions are very close. The maximum relative error is less than 6% for samples with more than five pressure-time records. A quantitative condition is given under which the analytical solution applies with negligible estimation error. Compared with the common, steady-state method for measuring air permeability, the falling-pressure method has its advantages such as simplicity and economy. The steady-state method has to measure the air flux through the sample, while the falling-pressure method does not. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.