Phase change materials for pavement applications: A review

Elevated pavement temperature contributes to urban heat island effect and thermal distresses in pavements. The extreme low temperature in pavements causes freeze and thaw damage and low temperature cracking. Incorporation of phase change materials (PCMs) in pavements to restrict the temperature extremities is emerging as a field of research importance. Incorporation of PCM can restrict both the higher and lower temperature extremities in pavements. PCMs can store energy in the form of latent heat without any rise in temperature and with minimum change in volume. Encapsulated PCMs are used in pavements to minimize the PCM leakage. This paper provides a general outlook on different PCMs and their encapsulation techniques used for pavement applications. Moreover, a detailed review is included on the effect of incorporating PCMs in asphalt and concrete pavements. Being the first literature review in this area, discussing in detail about the incorporation of PCMs in both concrete and asphalt pavements, the current paper act as a firm foundation for future developments in this field.