EXPRESSWAY TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE 08-14

Quality Enhancement of Recycled Asphalt Pavement

In Soo Kim
*

The most important factor for recycled(reclaimed) asphalt pavement (RAP) is crack susceptibility. This research focused on asphalt pavement crack propagation behavior and adaptability of recycling aggregate. While most of the research related to RAP simply suggested an acceptable mix ratio of old aggregate based on previous research, real problems of RAP were identified by using trial construction and crack survey. The fatigue resistance of RAP was also investigated by using beam fatigue test. As a consequence of this research, the application of the particular recycled asphalt of this study was proven to be adequate for highway construction. The preceeding literature review revealed that, although asphalt rejuvenators are used in many countries, those particular chemical agent types are not used in Korea. By using the data of trial construction and mix design on the traffic lanes of Chongwon-Sangju construction headquarter, the base courses consisting of 10% and 30% rap mix asphalt section maintained good performance for 3 years. Through the trial construction and laboratory tests, the quality control and the prevention of the mixture's low temperature were identified as the important factors.

Key words : Recycled Asphalt Pavement, Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement, Recycling Asphalt Aggregate

INTRODUCTION
Asphalt concrete pavement is generally used for recycling in western countries because of the low aging effect of entire pavement except for the road surfaces. Nonetheless, a lot of old asphalt pavement in Korea was used for land fill (98.4%) compared to other countries. This result comes mainly from unrealistic rules, and the law and the negative public opinion have to be considered together. In this research, the road pavement mixed with 20-30% old aggregate was selected, and crack survey was conducted by using an automatic test system prepared for an upcoming "Law of Construction Material Recycling Act". The crack propagation and reflection crack were investigated in the lab for the verification of the survey results. The trial construction was performed in the field to verify the adaptability of recycled asphalt aggregate and quality control. Additionally, existing asphalt pavement mix design program was revised for recycling purposes pursuant to the mix design.

stability and indirect tensile values than dense grade because of the aging effects of old binder. Binder aging is a very serious problem for asphalt pavement, which can cause cracking within 2-3 years.

Crack Susceptibility
The crack possibility of surface course can not be ruled out, but more optimistic results is possible for the base course if the aging phenomenon is minimized. It is clear that the higher stability is directly related to the aging of binders, and it is necessary to set a maximum limit for stability to circumvent crack possibilities. There are another types of disadvantages for recycled asphalt mix design and construction. Because asphalt mix design is usually performed in trial-error cycles, a reliable solution is the most important in this process. However, recycling of asphalt pavement affects the final mix design result, and this is caused by the addition of fine aggregate. The quality criteria for recycled asphalt pavement are supposed to be almost the same as new mixtures. Thus, it seems that there should be no problem of using aged aggregate as new pavement materials. Nonetheless, more extensive field data and the lab tests are needed for the establishment of these age-related criteria. The representative asphalt pavement tests related to

The Quality of RAP

RAP exhibits no major difference with general asphalt pavement in quality test results. It has rather high value of

Senior Researcher, Road research Team (E-mail : kimis12@ex.co.kr)

EXPRESSWAY & TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE 08-14

aging are traditional penetration test and viscosity test. Nevertheless, DSR test (Dynamic Shear Rheometer, Performance Grade) has higher acceptability than SHRPs.

Result of Pavement Condition Survey

The condition of recycled pavement was relatively good in this survey. An automated pavement survey system was used to detect cracks and other damages. Most of the road sections had relatively low cracking rate, but some sections manifested high cracking rate.

Mix Ratio of Aged Aggregate in New Asphalt Pavement

Trial construction indicates that the maximum mix ratio of aged aggregate in low quality pavement is 50% without any rejuvenator. However, mix ratio of less than 30% was suitable for the case of surface course of dense grade asphalt mixture in consideration of moisture content and total haul distances. The maximum mix content of base course was evaluated to be less than 40%. Nonetheless, when indirect heating method was used, this mix ratio was lowered more drastically (to approximately less than 10%).

Mix Design Program

APmix version 1.1 was originally developed for dense grade asphalt mix design by Korea Expressway Corporation. This program basically decides the optimum asphalt content from the selection of aggregate and gradation to the input of Marshall test result.

Fatigue Crack Resistance Test Results

The experiments of this study involved both non-destructive and destructive tests. The non-destructive test is a dynamic modulus test pursuant to AASHTO TP-62 test procedure. The destructive test is a constant crosshead rate test. This test is performed to measure the damage characteristics at 5. Table 1 shows the increment of asphalt pavement damage in accordance with the increase in repetitive load using typical VECD-FEP++. Table 1 also shows the damaged section and the severity of pavement structure by the darkness of the color. Paris's law using linear fracture mechanics explains the correlation between crack length and linear elastic fracture mechanics (opening mode).

Figure 1. Base RAP (40% mix ratio)

da/dN K A, n

= = =

Crack growth speed Variable of Linear elastic fracture mechanics Material Constants

Figure 2. Base RAP (50% mix ratio) A lot of recycled asphalt pavements has flushing problem after compaction because of small particles. The particles vary greatly in size and also have rich asphalt binder content. The recycled asphalt specification provides the following guideline for recycling aggregate mix ratio; Base mixture : less than 50% mix ratio Surface course : less than 30% mix ratio However, as it can be seen above figures, more conservative values should be used for the roads of higher standard such as expressway and national road depending on the field condition.

In this study, K-values for SMA and dense grade mixture were extracted by FEM method based on characteristics of Korean pavement. The crack growth rate is largely affected by temperature gradient rather than load repetition. The reflection cracking affected by temperature gradient was considered in this study of lean concrete layer beneath the top concrete layer. The values for the parameters, A and n, of Paris's Law are calculated by lab test. These A, n and K are used to estimate the life span of the asphalt concrete overlay. This method indicated that the life span of SMA mixture was 24% higher than that of dense grade asphalt mixture. The table 1 and 2 show the propagation of the mixture damage due to load repetition in accordance with VECD-FEP++ model. Although the life span of SMA mixture was higher than that of dense grade mixture, this VECD-FEP++ modeling showed that the thickness effect was more influential than the material type.

EXPRESSWAY TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE 08-14

Table 1. Contour Plot of 4in after loading

No. of Cycles 10,000 Thin Pavement(4 in) ASTM19 SMA

Table 2. Contour Plot of 12-inch after loading

No. of Cycles Thick Pavement(12 in) ASTM19 SMA

106 100,000 2.5107 500,000

106 5107

CONCLUSIONS
108

The application of recycled asphalt was adequate for highway construction in quality. The preceeding literature review indicated that asphalt rejuvenators are used in many countries but that such chemical agent types are not used in Korea. The data of trial construction and the design of 10% and 30% RAP mix for asphalt sections indicated good performance for 3 years. Through the trial construction and laboratory tests, it was found that the quality control and the prevention of low temperature for the mixture were important factors.

REFERENCES
1. Hanson, Douglas I., Asphlat PAvement Recycling PPT, 2005 2. Decker D., Hot Mix Recycling : State-of-Art the Practice, Porc. AAPT, 1997 3. Nouredin S. A., Laboratory Evaluation of Recycled Aphalt Pavement Using Nondestructive Tests, TRR 1269, 1990 4. Skinner, Jr., Robert E., Recommended Use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement in the Superpave Mix Design Method: Technican's Manual, NCHRP REPORT 452 , 2001

EXPRESSWAY & TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE 08-14

Expressway & Transportation Research Institute

50-5, Sanchuck-rhi, Dongtan-myun, Hwangsung-shi, Gyeonggi-do, 445-812 Korea TEL : +82-31-371-3223 FAX :+82-31-371-3219

kimis12@ex.co.kr