Performance evaluation of warm mix asphalt containing reclaimed asphalt mixtures

Abstract

The objective of this study is to expose the effect of a variety of variables including three reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) contents, two warm mix asphalt (WMA) additives and a rejuvenating agent (or lack of) on the performance of WMA containing (WMA–RAP) materials. A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate the performance of WMA–RAP mixtures through rutting, bending and freeze-thaw splitting tests. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to analyse the significant effect of the variables on the performance. The tests results showed that the increased RAP content led to an increased rutting resistance and the decreased resistance to low-temperature cracking and moisture damage. The addition of the rejuvenating agent into the WMA–RAP mixtures can significantly improve the low-temperature cracking and moisture resistance. The ANOVA results showed that the RAP content had a significant effect on the rutting and low-temperature cracking resistance, and moreover, the rejuvenating agent (or lack of) had a large effect on the low-temperature cracking and moisture resistance.

Keywords:

• Warm mix asphalt
• reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)
• rutting
• low-temperature cracking
• moisture damage
• ANOVA

Acknowledgements

The authors are also thankful to the engineers of the Liaoyang Highway Administration Department for coordinating the preparation of the materials so that the research team may successfully accomplish this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.