Abstract
An increased potential for moisture damage and rutting has been the two main problems with warm mixed asphalt (WMA) implementation. The use of high reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) contents (25% or more) in WMA may alleviate these problems. At present, susceptibility to the moisture damage and rutting are usually tested for independently; however, these distress mechanisms can be linked for in-service pavements. An enhanced loaded wheel tracking test performed on dry and wet specimens, the PURWheel, is investigated in this paper to evaluate the interaction of traffic and moisture. The PURWheel is also compared with conventional rutting and moisture damage tests. PURWheel results are used to evaluate the performance of 25% and 50% RAP–WMA. Rutting and moisture susceptibility of the high RAP–WMA was comparable with current practice low RAP content hot mixed asphalt.
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by the Mississippi DOT under State Study 212. Scott Glusenkamp of APAC Mississippi is thanked for his assistance in the location of field mixtures. Dr. Thomas D. White is thanked for his assistance in a variety of manners including securing the original PURWheel equipment, and for the technical guidance related to wheel tracking and finite element modelling. Permission to publish was granted by the Director, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, US Army Engineer Research and Development Center.