Patricia Chavez
Published: 2016
Total Pages:
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The use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in new asphalt mixes replaces a portion of the virgin aggregate and binder, which will help with cost saving in pavement construction as well provide several environmental benefits. Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has no requirements and specifications for the use of RAP in accordance to the FAA Specification P401 and this research will help with the development of such specifications. The objective of this study is to create Superpave mix designs for airfields using RAP and subject them to performance related testing to provide information regarding any issues with the mix design procedure. Another objective of this project is to perform and interpret the results of laboratory testing with regard to the behavior/performance of asphalt mixes containing RAP and evaluate their suitability for use in airport pavements The experimental plan in this study included 10 different hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixes made with three different binder grades (PG 64-22, PG58-28, PG76-22PM), three RAP sources (New York, California, Alabama), and two RAP percentages (25%, 40%). A control mix with no RAP was also tested for comparison. The results of this study will be used to develop mix designs for accelerated pavement testing at the FAA National Aviation Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF) in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The results indicate that meeting the FAA's voids in mineral aggregate (VMA) requirement was problematic and while developing the mix designs with RAP the total binder content had to be reduced in order to meet the current FAA air void and VMA requirements. Performance testing showed that incorporation of RAP will improve the performance properties when compared to their respective control mixes. The statistical analysis showed that percent of RAP (by binder replacement rate) is the most significant factor affecting all performance testing and that binder grade is the least significant factor on all performance testing. It is recommended that results from this study be validated with more performance testing, including additional testing with different binder grades and performance testing for low temperature cracking. There also needs to be more testing on mix designs for airfield pavement with the addition of RAP to develop voids filled with asphalt (VFA) and dust proportion (DP) specifications.