Search results for "Asphalt"
showing 10 items of 151 documents
Fundamental characterisation of reclaimed asphalts: The importance of testing homogeneous specimens
2013
This study highlights the importance of defining appropriate specimen manufacturing procedures when assessing the fundamental properties of reclaimed asphalt (RA) mixes for further modelling purposes. Two gyratory compactor procedures were used: the first leading to specimens with a non-uniform air voids distribution and the second tailored to obtain homogeneous specimens. The study was performed by using three stone mastic asphalts incorporating up to 30% of RA but designed to have identical properties. A detailed characterisation of the loose mixes and binders, an X-ray computer tomography micro-structural study of the manufactured specimens and a further mechanical characterisation showe…
Evaluation of the fracture performance of different rubberised bitumens based on the essential work of fracture
2017
The fracture performance of rubberised bitumen in addition to one pre-treated with a Warm Mix Additive (Sasobit®) was investigated using different test methods measuring different damage mechanisms. Two Recycled Tyre Rubber (RTR) modifiers together with two base binders were blended in the laboratory to produce various combinations of Recycled Tyre Rubber Modified Bitumens (RTR-MBs). The first RTR is a standard recycled polymer derived from discarded truck and passenger car tyres by ambient grinding. The second RTR consists of 100% recycled truck tyres derived by cryogenic grinding and pre-treated with special oil and WMA to allow further decrease of asphalt mixture production temperatures.…
Laboratory and in-situ tests for estimating improvements in asphalt concrete with the addition of an LDPE and EVA polymeric compound
2019
Abstract Pavement deformation is a critical issue in the design of pavement structures and the related mixture. Asphalt concretes may be very sensitive to this problem, in compliance with the viscoelastic behaviour of the adopted bitumen. To improve the material performance, many attempts have been made to introduce in the mixture other materials as “modifiers” or “additives” for increasing the permanent deformation resistance and the elastic modulus of the material. Among the different possible materials, polymers determined significant improvements in the road pavement performance. In this paper, the authors tested the adoption of a specifically engineered polymeric compound, in order to …
Influence of short-term aging on mechanical properties and morphology of polymer-modified bitumen with recycled plastics from waste materials
2020
Polymer-modified bitumen (PMB) is bitumen that has been specifically engineered with polymer for providing enhanced performance in service. The aging of bitumen is a main aspect that is able to affect its final performance: during the production phase in a hot mix plant, all the binders experience short-term aging due to the high processing temperature. The same is true during the production of the modified binder, when the polymer is dispersed at high temperature in the bitumen mass. This paper aims at studying the effect of short-term aging when using different types of modifiers such as recycled polymers obtained from waste materials. A 50/70 penetration-grade bitumen has been modified, …
Mechanical characterization of dry asphalt rubber concrete for base layers by means of the four bending points tests
2012
The mechanical characterisation of the asphalt concrete in terms of both the fatigue resistance and the stiffness modulus is necessary to use any design method of the flexible road pavements. Even more the determination of these mechanical properties is necessary if the asphalt concrete investigated is an innovative material as a dry asphalt rubber concrete DARC (i.e. a bituminous mixture with rubber via dry process). Such material is less known and investigated than the asphalt rubber concrete via wet process, even if its application implies peculiar economical and environmental advantages such as no specialized equipment or significant plant modifications and large quantity of recycled wa…
Rutting analysis of different rubberised stone mastic asphalt mixtures: from binders to mixtures
2021
Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) has been broadly used on heavily trafficked roads and motorways in the UK due to its known stability and durability. In this study, several sets of SMA mixtures were produced using different rubberised bitumens, including a Fischer–Tropsch wax pre-treated rubberised bitumen. Properties associated with rutting were evaluated using both linear and nonlinear viscoelastic analyses, using different test methods such as the Strategic Highway Research Programme (SHRP), Shenoy rutting parameter, zero shear viscosity (ZSV) and multiple stress creep recovery (MSCR) tests. The rutting resistance of the resulting SMA mixtures was assessed using the Repeated Load Axial Test (R…
Performance of asphalt mixes with high recycling rates for wearing layers
2016
The corresponding paper presents selected results of a research on the feasibility of going toward 100% recycling of asphalt pavements into surface courses through an increasing percentage of RA within the mixes. The research is carried out within a two-year CEDR Transnational Road Research project, AllBack2Pave, led by the Technische Universitaet Dresden (Germany), together with the University of Nottingham (UK) and the University of Palermo (Italy), and finalised in January 2016. The main objectives of the project are - to establish, through laboratory tests on binders and asphalt mixes, whether the use of high rates of RA is feasible in developing mixes with high level of durability, and…
Effects of Laboratory Aging on Properties of Biorejuvenated Asphalt Binders
2017
This paper presents the results from a laboratory investigation on the effects of aging on the properties of two binders recovered from two different sources of Reclaimed Asphalt (RA) and additivated with a biorejuvenator derived from pine trees. It has been already proven that the rejuvenators are able to restore some of the properties of the aged binder present in the RA, but nowadays their effects into the long-term period are not well known. In this regard, the rejuvenated asphalt binders and a virgin binder, defined as a target, have been aged artificially to simulate short-and long-term aging. All binders have been studied conducting physical, chemical, rheological, and performance-re…
Linear and nonlinear fractional hereditary constitutive laws of asphalt mixtures
2016
The aim of this paper is to propose a fractional viscoelastic and viscoplastic model of asphalt mixtures using experimental data of several tests such as creep and creep recovery performed at different temperatures and at different stress levels. From a best fitting procedure it is shown that both the creep one and recovery curve follow a power law model. It is shown that the suitable model for asphalt mixtures is a dashpot and a fractional element arranged in series. The proposed model is also available outside of the linear domain but in this case the parameters of the model depend on the stress level.
Influence of bio-based additives on RAP clustering and asphalt binder rheology
2017
The use of high Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) content in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) allows developing innovative materials for the construction and/or rehabilitation of sustainable infrastructures. The chemo-physical phenomena occurring during production of HMA containing high RAP content should be investigated and considered for the mix design optimization. In fact, when additives are used as rejuvenators of the aged bitumen, these phenomena can be affected causing significant variations in the mixture characteristics. This paper aims at studying the influence of two bio-based additives specifically on RAP clustering, phenomena which can significantly affect the performance of high-content R…