## 1 Introduction
[26] studied the moisture resistance (using ITSR) of polymer-modified AC mixtures (six different polymeric products were tested). They found that polymeric products, not only the type but also the content, have different moisture resistance. AC mixtures are subjected to environmental conditions as they age and consequently their properties evolve over time due to interaction of these factors. Age hardening and moisture damage have been pointed to as the primary factors affecting the durability of AC mixtures [27]. Nevertheless, even if there are more studies on moisture susceptibility, there are also studies considering moisture and ageing simultaneously [26; 28; 29; 30], highlighting the importance to consider both. The AC mixture ageing is generally divided into two phases; the phase of mixing, laying, and compaction, where the short-term ageing occurs; and, the pavement service life phase, where the long-term ageing occurs. To simulate ageing in the laboratory, the methods more frequently used are those described by the AASHTO standard practice R30-02 [31]. This standard proposes a method--the long-term oven ageing (LTOA)--to simulate the long-term ageing of the compacted asphalt mixture to an equivalent of 7-10 years of field service. On one hand, the LTOA method has several advantages, such as, it uses simple equipment and it is easy to implement and reproduce (consists of placing the compacted test specimens in a conditioning oven for \(120\pm 0.5\) h at a temperature of \(85\pm 3\)\({}^{\circ}\)C). On the other hand, it presents a few drawbacks, particularly, by not simulating most of the actions present during field ageing (e.g., solar radiation, moisture, and freeze-thaw), the field-ageing equivalency is difficult and not consensual. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [32] matched the damage causedby laboratory conditioning protocols to the damage produced by exposure to non-load-associated environmental factors for up to 5 years in the southeast United States, concluding that the 7-10 years of field service simulation claimed by the AASHTO R30-02 are not realistic. It depends greatly on climate [29] and the procedure described in AASHTO R30-02 does not consider the moisture and UV radiation. Several authors are highlighting the importance of solar radiation, particularly the UV, in the ageing process [33; 34; 35]. As the UV rays possess high energy, they promote photodegradation mechanisms, for instance, they are able to break C=C bonds, and accelerate the degradation of polymers such as the styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) [36]. Thus, UV is an important action to reproduce when evaluating the ageing of a mixture to be applied in wearing course (surface layers) and when new additives/modifiers are involved. In order to account for these aspects, [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [29] developed a new accelerated ageing method for compacted bituminous mixtures, called tecnico accelerated ageing (TEAGE). It simulates the ageing of asphalt mixtures under specific environmental conditions by applying watering/drying cycles and UV radiation in equivalent levels to those observed in the field during a certain time. Those authors [29] compared the effect of TEAGE and R30-02 long-term ageing methods on an AC 14 gap-graded mixture by using stiffness, fatigue resistance, and indirect tensile strength (ITS) results. Compared to the R30-02 long-term ageing method, the ITS values of TEAGE aged specimens were higher, stiffness values were lower, as well as fatigue resistance values. However, the results are not comparable since the section of TEAGE aged specimens is not homogeneous, due to a differential ageing level in specimen depth (e.g., the top surface, with direct exposure to UV radiation suffered a higher ageing severity than the bottom surface).