Relationship between asphalt composition and thermal behaviour for solar energy collection

Using asphalt to harvest solar energy is an ideal and sustainable solution to the problems involved with increasing energy demand and using fossil fuels. Asphalt has the most heat absorbent colour and is already covering large surfaces in and between urban areas. Asphalt solar collection systems have not been implemented on a large scale worldwide. This is because the current energy/heat collection efficiency does not outweigh the costs involved in constructing on road level and under/within adjacent buildings which can use the energy. This paper is based on testing and evaluation of variations in asphalt composition which can provide a greater quantity of energy/heat in a given time, to increase effectiveness of energy collection to make this system more feasible. Also there is a discussion of other research on asphalt thermal properties, characteristics and factors other than asphalt involved in energy collection. The potential application of this research is also discussed in this paper. The results showed that an increase of 1% in bitumen can increase the maximum temperature of asphalt by almost 14%. In addition, decreasing void ratio, using other aggregates and larger aggregate sizes can increase the maximum temperature and thermal conductivity.