Nebraska LTAP
Date of this Version
12-30-2021
Document Type
Article
Citation
Bastola, N., Khedmati, M., and Haghshenas, H. F. (2021). Research on High-RAP Mixtures with Rejuvenator - Field Implementation. NDOT Research Report SPR-P1(20) M115.
Abstract
The use of Rejuvenating Agents (RAs), as Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) modifiers, has been increasing over the past years. However, the field performance of asphalt mixtures containing high-RAP materials and modified with RAs has raised some concerns regarding the long-term performance of RAs. This study evaluated the laboratory and field performance of high-RAP mixtures with and without bio-oil RA. Three sets of plant-produced specimens were collected: 1) laboratory-compacted; 2) field-compacted and cored after paving; and 3) field-compacted and cored after one and two years. The Hamburg Wheel Tracking (HWT) test was used to evaluate the specimens' resistance to rutting and moisture damage. The Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) fracture test was performed to examine the specimens' resistance to cracking. The results showed that using the bio-oil RA resulted in an increase in cracking resistance and a decrease in rutting and moisture damage resistance of the RAP-blended mixtures compacted in the laboratory. However, after one and two years of exposure to the environmental conditions and traffic loads, the effect of RA on moisture and rutting susceptibility of the mixtures reduced. The cracking resistance of specimens, estimated by Flexibility Index (FI) and Cracking Resistance Index (CRI), and Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) test results implied that the bio-oil RA used in this study could not provide long-term improvement for the RAP-blended mixtures in the laboratory-aging and field-aging conditions. The field performance observations showed that the use of the bio-oil RA in the second layer might have indirectly resulted in more cracks (fatigue and thermal) and ruts in the surface layer.