Search Results (9)

In this study, two kinds of quick melting modifier SBS-T and SBS-W, as well as the traditional SBS modifier, were used in the optimization design of asphalt binders. The changes in material structure and fatigue properties of three polymer-modified asphalt after adding 3% Sasobit to warm mix agent were investigated. The feasibility of SBS-T and SBS-W in asphalt binder was discussed from the modification mechanism and fatigue properties. In order to reveal the modification mechanism, the interaction mechanism between the fast-melting SBS modifier and the base asphalt was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The temperature sensitivity and viscoelastic properties of SBS-T and SBS-W modified binders were determined by frequency scanning (FS). The fatigue properties of SBS-T and SBS-W modified binders were tested by linear amplitude scanning (LAS). The results of FTIR showed that there was no chemical reaction between the SBS-T and SBS-W and the base asphalt. XRD results showed that SBS-W-modified asphalt has stronger fluidity. The results of FS and LAS showed that the asphalt binder with Sasobit has good stiffness and elastic recovery ability, and the same SBS-T and SBS-W have better temperature sensitivity and deformation resistance. In addition, the fatigue life of asphalt binder under the linear viscoelastic continuous damage theory is increased 3.9 times by SBS-W. Full article

Warm mix asphalt (WMA) technologies allow the production, lay-down and compaction of asphalt mixtures at reduced temperatures and the use of higher amounts of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) with respect to conventional hot mix asphalt (HMA), leading to significant environmental benefits and energy savings. However, limited data is available on the long-term performance of such pavements. The objective of this study was to predict the long-term performance of an existing warm recycled motorway pavement (made with WMA mixtures containing RAP) constructed in 2016 in central Italy, along with the corresponding hot recycled pavement (made with HMA mixtures containing RAP). For this purpose, cores were taken from the pavements in 2022 to investigate the binder and base courses through dynamic modulus and cyclic fatigue tests, according to the simplified viscoelastic continuum damage (S-VECD) testing approach. The results of the tests were used to predict the service life of the pavements using two pieces of software, KENPAVE and FlexPAVE, based respectively on the elastic design method and the viscoelastic design method in the presence of damage. The FlexPAVE results indicated that the expected service life of the WMA pavement is much longer than that of the HMA pavement, mainly because the WMA mixtures have better damage properties than the HMA mixtures. Conversely, the KENPAVE simulations predicted a similar service life for the two pavements, highlighting the impossibility of the elastic method to catch the actual contribution of high-performance non-standard materials. The promising outcomes of the FlexPAVE simulations further encourage the application of warm recycled pavements. Full article

Compaction of hot mix asphalt (HMA) requires high temperatures in the range of 125 to 145 ${}^{°}$C to ensure the fluidity of asphalt binder and, therefore, the workability of asphalt mixtures. The high temperatures are associated with high energy consumption, and higher NOx emissions, and can also accelerate the aging of asphalt binders. In previous research, the authors have developed two approaches for improving the compactability of asphalt mixtures: (1) addition of Graphite Nanoplatelets (GNPs), and (2) optimizing aggregate packing. This research explores the effects of these two approaches, and the combination of them, on reducing compaction temperatures while the production temperature is kept at the traditional levels. A reduction in compaction temperatures is desired for prolonging the paving window, extending the hauling distance, reducing the energy consumption for reheating, and for reducing the number of repairs and their negative environmental and safety effects, by improving the durability of the mixtures. A Superpave asphalt mixture was chosen as the control mixture. Three modified mixtures were designed, respectively, by (1) adding 6% GNP by the weight of binder, (2) optimizing aggregate packing, and (3) combining the two previous approaches. Gyratory compaction tests were performed on the four mixtures at two compaction temperatures: 135 ${}^{°}$C (the compaction temperature of the control mixture) and 95 ${}^{°}$C. A method was proposed based on the gyratory compaction to estimate the compaction temperature of the mixtures. The results show that all the three methods increase the compactability of mixtures and thus significantly reduce the compaction temperatures. Method 3 (combining GNP modification and aggregate packing optimization) has the most significant effect, followed by method 1 (GNP modification), and method 2 (aggregate packing optimization). Full article

Warm mix asphalt (WMA) technology can bring certain environmental and technical benefits through reducing the temperature of production, paving, and compaction of mixture asphalt. Recent studies have shown that some WMA additives are able to reduce the temperature by increasing the lubricating properties of asphalt binder-based on the tribological theory, this paper studied the mechanism of adsorbing and lubricating film of base asphalt and WMA on the surface of stone by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method, and the effect of surfactant WMA additive on the lubrication performance of the shear friction system of “stone–asphalt–stone”. The model of base asphalt lubricating film, including saturates, aromatics, resin and asphaltene, as well as the model of warm mix asphalt lubricating film containing imidazoline-type surfactant WMA (IMDL WMA) additive molecule, were established. The shear friction system of “stone–asphalt–stone” of base asphalt and warm mix asphalt was built on the basis of an asphalt lubrication film model and representative calcite model. The results show that the addition of IMDL WMA additive can effectively improve the lubricity of asphalt, reduce the shear stress of asphalt lubricating film, and increase the stability of asphalt film. The temperature in the WMA lubricating film rises, while the adsorption energy on the stone surface decreases with the increase of shear rate, indicating that the higher the shear rate is, the more unfavorable it is for the WMA lubricating film to wrap on the stone surface. In addition, the shear stress of the WMA lubricating film decreased with increasing temperature, while the shear stress of the base asphalt lubricating film increased first and then decreased, demonstrating that the compactability of the asphalt mixture did not improve linearly with the increase of temperature. Full article

Conventional asphalt mixtures used for road paving require high manufacturing temperatures and therefore high energy expenditure, which has a negative environmental impact and creates risk in the workplace owing to high emissions of pollutants, greenhouse gases, and toxic fumes. Reducing energy consumption and emissions is a continuous challenge for the asphalt industry. Previous studies have focused on the reduction of emissions without characterizing their composition, and detailed characterization of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in asphalt fumes is scarce. This communication describes the characterization and evaluation of VOCs and SVOCs from asphalt mixtures prepared at lower production temperatures using natural zeolite; in some cases, reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) was used. Fumes were extracted from different asphalt mix preparations using a gas syringe and then injected into hermetic gas sample bags. The compounds present in the fumes were sampled with a fiber and analyzed by gas-liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In general, the preparation of warm mix asphalts (WMA) using RAP and natural zeolite as aggregates showed beneficial effects, reducing VOCs and SVOCs compared to hot mix asphalts (HMA). The fumes captured presented a similar composition to those from HMA, consisting principally of saturated and unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons and aromatic compounds but with few halogenated compounds and no polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Thus, the paving mixtures described here are a friendlier alternative for the environment and for the health of road workers, in addition to permitting the re-use of RAP. Full article

Recycled and low-temperature materials are promising solutions to reduce the environmental burden deriving from hot mix asphalts. Despite this, there is lack of studies focusing on the assessment of the life-cycle impacts of these promising technologies. Consequently, this study deals with the life cycle assessment (LCA) of different classes of pavement technologies, based on the use of bituminous mixes (hot mix asphalt and warm mix asphalt) with recycled materials (reclaimed asphalt pavements, crumb rubber, and waste plastics), in the pursuit of assessing energy and environmental impacts. Analysis is developed based on the ISO 14040 series. Different scenarios of pavement production, construction, and maintenance are assessed and compared to a reference case involving the use of common paving materials. For all the considered scenarios, the influence of each life-cycle phase on the overall impacts is assessed to the purpose of identifying the phases and processes which produce the greatest impacts. Results show that material production involves the highest contribution (about 60–70%) in all the examined impact categories. Further, the combined use of warm mix asphalts and recycled materials in bituminous mixtures entails lower energy consumption and environmental impacts due to a reduction of virgin bitumen and aggregate consumption, which involves a decrease in the consumption of primary energy and raw materials, and reduced impacts for disposal. LCA results demonstrate that this methodology is able to help set up strategies for eco-design in the pavement sector. Full article

Warm mix asphalt (WMA) has been widely accepted as a future asphalt paving technology. Besides clear advantages, there are still some concerns regarding durability and long-term performance of pavements made with this type of asphalt mixtures. One of the most important issues is low temperature behaviour of WMA because certain additives used for temperature reduction can affect bitumen properties. This paper presents the evaluation of low-temperature properties of laboratory-produced asphalt concrete for wearing course with selected WMA additives. One type of bitumen with paving grade 50/70 and five WMA additives of different nature (organic, surface tension reducer and combination of both) were used in this study. The production and compaction temperature of mixtures containing WMA additives was 25 °C lower in comparison with the temperature of the reference mix. To assess the susceptibility of WMA to low-temperature cracking, Semi-Circular Bending (SCB) and Thermal Stress Restrained Specimen Test (TSRST) were used. Supplementary rating was made by analysing Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) test results of asphalt binders. Full article

Clay ball is a pavement surface defect which refers to a clump in which clay or dirt is mixed with hot asphalt mixture. Clay ball is typically caused by a combination of aggregate contamination of clay or soil, high aggregate moisture, and low production temperature at the asphalt plant. It usually appears a few weeks or months after paving under traffic load, after being liquefied and knocked from the pavement surface. Clay balls can be the source of potholing, raveling, and other issues such as moisture infiltration and reduced ride quality. This paper presents an investigation of the clay balls on US-31 one winter after construction in Hamilton County, Indiana. In order to understand the pavement condition, their severity was measured using both visual observation and infrared image collection system. In addition, a clay ball amount, its distribution pattern, and cores condition were evaluated. A precipitation effect on clay ball formation was investigated for finding a cause of the clay balls. The investigation found that infrared image collection system was appropriate in detecting the clay balls. The clay balls were elliptic in shape with 2.5 cm to 10 cm in diameter, and the maximum clay ball depth was almost penetrating the entire surface course. It was also found that the asphalt paving on the raining days or right after raining could increase the potential of clay balls. Monitoring of aggregate moisture during construction on or after raining days should be able to reduce the risk of clay balls. Full article

In order to solve the serious environmental problems caused by the rapid increase in the number of waste tires and unproper storage of waste tires, modifying the asphalt mix for roadway pavement by adding rubber crumb from recycled waste tires is one of the highly effective approach to solve the problem and can achieve the sustainable use of rubber resources. The application of warm-mix crumb rubber-modified asphalt (CRMA) overcomes some issues of the hot-mix CRMA, such as high temperature and high energy consumption. However, there is a lack of estimation methodology for the energy conservation and emission reduction during the production process of warm-mix CRMA. This study develops the estimation models for the evaluation of energy conservation and emissions reduction during different production stages of waste rubber powder, asphalt, CRMA, hot-mix CRMA, and warm-mix CRMA. A list for gas emissions during the mixing and paving process of CRMA mixtures was established through the simulated mixing measurement and paving site measurement. The results show that for each metric ton of CRMA mixture produced, warm mixing can reduce energy consumption by 18~36% and decrease gas emissions during different stages by 15~87% compared to hot mixing. The Evotherm warm-mix CRMA mixture with DAT as warm mix agent (Ev-DAT warm-mix CRMA mixture) is more energy-efficient by saving approximately 108.56 MJ of energy and reducing gas emissions during mixing and paving by at least 32% and 73%, respectively. This model can improves the technical standard of warm-mix CRMA and the energy conservation assessment. Full article