Investigation of reinforcing flexible pavements with waste plastic fibers in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

Abstract

With the increase of solid wastes, officials in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), United Arab Emirates (UAE) are evaluating reuses of these materials rather than being dumped in landfills. Furthermore, asphalt pavements in RAK are failing prematurely due to heavy and slow traffic accompanied with high temperatures during the summer. To assist in the efforts of solving these problems, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of adding waste plastic fibers to Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA). Tests were conducted on a standard HMA with two asphalt binder grades and two waste plastic fiber contents (0.5 and 1% by weight of mix). Results showed that HMA fracture resistance at −10 and 21.1°C temperatures and rutting resistance at a 54.4°C temperature increased by the addition of waste plastic fibers. For an overall improvement in performance of asphalt pavement, the optimum waste plastic fiber content was found to be 0.5% by weight of mix. Thus, by adding waste plastic fibers to HMA, an improvement of performance (rutting and cracking resistances) of asphalt pavements and a positive effect on the environment could be achieved by the reuse of discarded plastic waste.

Keywords:

• flexible pavements
• hot mix asphalt
• waste plastic fiber
• fracture
• rutting
• semi-circular beam
• semi-circular notched beam
• flow number

Acknowledgements

Authors would like to extend their gratitude to the American University of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE and the University of Idaho, USA for the provided support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.