Pavement performance evaluation of asphalt mixtures containing oil shale waste

Abstract

Oil shale ash (OSA) is a waste or by-product material, which may cause hazards for human health and environment. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the potential of OSA as partial replacement of mineral powder in asphalt mixture. For this aim, asphalt mixtures were prepared by two types of OSA wastes as partial filler replacement and compared with the control mixtures prepared with traditional mineral filler in this paper. Marshall tests were performed to investigate the volumetric and mechanical properties of asphalt mixtures. Moreover, the pavement performance including high-temperature dynamic stability, low-temperature cracking resistance and moisture stability were conducted. Results show that all required properties and pavement performance of asphalt mixture containing OSA at the optimum asphalt content (OAC) are satisfied or even improved in comparison with ordinary asphalt mixture in accordance to Chinese standard specification. The performance of asphalt mixture containing OSA was also evaluated based on a test road. In terms of environmental and economic as well as pavement performance points of view, OSA can be used instead of partial mineral filler in asphalt mixtures.

Keywords:

• asphalt mixture
• waste oil shale ash
• volumetric properties
• pavement performance

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51678271) and Science Technology Development Program of Jilin Province (20160204008SF). The authors would like to appreciate anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions and comments to improve the quality of the paper.

ORCID

Wensheng Wang http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0442-7477

Yongchun Cheng http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9845-7062

Guojin Tan http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3994-7934

Chenglin Shi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3525-7928

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 51678271) and Science Technology Development Program of Jilin Province (20160204008SF).