Capturing Individual Or Combined Environmental Effects from Longer Term Field Aging of Asphalt Mixtures

Capturing Individual Or Combined Environmental Effects from Longer Term Field Aging of Asphalt Mixtures
Author: Rabeea Waheed Bazuhair
Publisher:
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

Nowadays, asphalt mixtures can be complex and have many ingredients to meet economic, performance, and/or environmental requirements. Economic and environmental factors have been driving performance in the positive direction for rutting, but the negative direction for brittleness, cracking, and overall durability. Recent research has also shown that two of the national standards to assess aging or effects of environmental factors (AASHTO T283 and R30) do not always simulate the amount of aging or behaviors mentioned in the documents. Also, these methods generally view one environmental effect at a time, and do not consider simultaneous environmental effects on aging (e.g. oxidation, moisture, freeze-thaw effects). However, pavements are exposed to combined environmental effects. As such, there is a lack of understanding of the combined environmental effects on asphalt pavement, and improve methods are needed for laboratory settings, resulting in less than optimal design and materials selection protocols. This dissertation focuses on investigating combined environmental effects of oxidation, moisture, and freeze-thaw. The dissertation includes four years of field aging of plant mixed asphalt mixtures containing no recycled materials and three different warm mix technologies that were also exposed to eight laboratory conditioning protocols including individual and combined environmental effects of oxidation, moisture and freeze-thaw to investigate mixture properties measured at high, intermediate, and low temperatures with several mixture tests that were complimented with tests on recovered binder. Major findings are summarized below: • Cantabro mass loss captured individual and combined effects damage in laboratory and field conditions better than other mixture testing utilized herein and was recommended for mixture assessment. • Laboratory conditioning protocols with combined effects were the only ones able to consistently represent four or more years of field aging in the Mississippi climate. • Field aging of laboratory compacted specimens in PVC sleeves did not fully represent field aging of field placed pavement. Temperature and moisture conditions varied between the two cases. • Use of Cantabro mass loss and laboratory conditioning consisting of hot air, hot water, and freeze-thaw conditions was shown to provide combined effects improvements relative to at least some typical practices. Guidance was provided on how to use these tools to assess combined effects.

Capturing Aggregate and Binder Interaction Effects on Aging Via Mixture Testing for Single Aggregate Source Asphalt Mixtures

Capturing Aggregate and Binder Interaction Effects on Aging Via Mixture Testing for Single Aggregate Source Asphalt Mixtures
Author: Bradley Scott Hansen
Publisher:
Total Pages: 57
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

This thesis compares asphalt mixture properties before and after one year of field aging. Simple mixtures, one aggregate source for coarse, fine, and dust proportions, were developed and tested using four mixture tests to isolate asphalt-aggregate interaction. The results found asphalt-aggregate interaction effects and mixing temperature had considerable effects on mixture aging after 1 year. Differences in mass loss, rut depth, and indirect tensile strength that existed before aging became more pronounced after aging. This thesis’ results agree with the literature reviewed and generates new knowledge for mixture design and materials selection considerations for improved pavement performance. It is recommended that mixture conditioning be used with an appropriate mixture conditioning protocol to more accurately categorize mixture ingredients effects on aging.

Evaluation of Warm Mix Asphalt Technologies with Respect to Binder Aging and Emissions

Evaluation of Warm Mix Asphalt Technologies with Respect to Binder Aging and Emissions
Author: Faramarz Farshidi
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2012
Genre:
ISBN: 9781267758804

In recent years Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) technologies have been used to modify asphalt binders, with the following objectives: to decrease production and construction temperatures, reduce fumes and emissions, increase haul distance, and improve the workability of the mix. Reduced temperatures at the plant and during laydown and compaction are hypothesized to positively impact long-term oxidative aging behavior due to less oxidation/aging and result in less emissions during production and construction due to reduced production and construction temperatures. The purpose of this investigation was to quantify these improvements with respect to long-term oxidative aging in the field and environmental benefits with respect to volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds and poly cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in order to confirm or deny this hypothesis. This research evaluated the potential durability of WMA and Rubberized Warm Mix Asphalt (R-WMA) binders with respect to long-term aging through characterization of field-aged binders extracted and recovered from field cores. The results were compared to the control conventional Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) and Rubberized Hot Mix Asphalt (R-HMA) samples. Binders were extracted and recovered from thirteen different test sections and a total of seven different WMA technologies were evaluated in this study. The Dynamic Shear Rheometer (DSR) was used to evaluate the rheological properties of the binders at high temperatures with respect to rutting performance in the field. The Bending Beam Rheometer (BBR) was used to characterize low temperature properties of the binder samples. A new testing procedure was developed to measure and characterize the rheological properties of the R-HMA and R-WMA binders with respect to performance-related properties in the field. The rheological results indicated that depending on the WMA technology used, the addition of WMA technologies and reduced production and compaction temperatures result in increase or decrease rutting resistance performance for WMA and R-WMA binders with respect to permanent deformation at high temperatures in the field. Both WMA and R-WMA binders studied meet the established thermal cracking criteria with respect to low temperature cracking in the field. The aging kinetics curves for WMA-treated binders are parallel to the control binders and the addition of WMA technologies including organic, chemical and mechanical foaming technologies studied in this research did not result in a different aging kinetics trend with respect to long-term aging in the field. A portable "flux" chamber was designed and fabricated to capture and directly measure emissions during paving operations. Emissions were collected in activated charcoal sorbent tubes for characterizing volatile organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds. XAD-2 resin tubes and filters were used to capture the gaseous phase and particulate phase of the PAH compounds, respectively. A reliable analytical method was developed to identify and quantify alkane emissions using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in the laboratory. A separate method was developed for identification and characterization of trace level PAH compounds of the asphalt fumes. The results demonstrated that the warm mix asphalt technology type, plant mixing temperature and level of compaction significantly influence the emission characteristics throughout paving operations. Moreover, the emissions kinetics indicated that the majority of the reactive organic gases are volatilized in the first hour after sampling initiation (immediately after production and before compaction). To better understand and identify any chemical composition changes of the binder due to WMA technologies, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) was used for understanding structural complexities of HMA and WMA binder molecules. Qualitative analysis of both carbon and hydrogen atoms with HMA and WMA binders showed that the molecular structures of the binders are not significantly changed by the effect of WMA technologies.

Multi-Scale Modeling and Characterization of Infrastructure Materials

Multi-Scale Modeling and Characterization of Infrastructure Materials
Author: Niki Kringos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2013-05-26
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9400768788

The micro- and nano-modification of infrastructure materials and the associated multi-scale characterization and simulation has the potential to open up whole new uses and classes of materials, with wide-ranging implications for society. The use of multi-scale characterization and simulation brings the ability to target changes at the very small scale that predictably effect the bulk behavior of the material and thus allowing for the optimization of material behavior and performance. The International RILEM Symposium on Multi-Scale Modeling and Characterization of Infrastructure Materials (Stockholm, June 10-12, 2013) brought together key researchers from around the world to present their findings and ongoing research in this field in a focused environment with extended discussion times. From asphalt to concrete, from chemistry to mechanics, from nano- to macro-scale: the collection of topics covered by the Symposium represents the width and depth of the currently ongoing efforts of developing more sustainable infrastructure materials. Researchers, practitioners, undergraduates and graduate students engaged in infrastructure materials or multi-scale characterization and modeling efforts can use this book as a comprehensive reference, to learn about the currently ongoing research efforts in this field or as an inspiration for new research ideas to enhance the long-term performance of infrastructure materials from a fundamental perspective. The Symposium was held under the auspices of the RILEM Technical Committee on Nanotechnology-Based Bituminous Materials 231-NBM and the Transport Research Board (TRB) Technical Committee on Characteristics of Asphalt Materials AFK20.

Characterizing Short and Long Term Mixture Aging of a Full-scale and Non-trafficked Asphalt Test Section

Characterizing Short and Long Term Mixture Aging of a Full-scale and Non-trafficked Asphalt Test Section
Author: Braden T. Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2017
Genre:
ISBN:

Ideally, asphalt pavements are designed to achieve sufficient stiffness prior to the application of traffic to resist rutting while also maintaining enough flexibility after years of service to minimize the amount of durability/brittleness related distresses (e.g. cracking and weathering). Multiple factors have caused an industry transition to mixes which are much more susceptible to crack, and durability related distresses are often the primary mechanism by which pavements fail. To restore a balance between rutting and durability distresses in asphalt pavements, the industry has started investigating balanced mix designs (BMDs) While mitigating only rutting or cracking behaviors is a straightforward exercise based on the collection of knowledge, simultaneously considering the two types of distresses is challenging considering that rutting is an early life distress and durability distresses are not typically observed until longer term aging has occurred. Mixture conditioning protocols to simulate field aging in conjunction with tests to fairly evaluate mixture integrity after conditioning are needed to scrutinize asphalt mixtures for durability related distresses during the mixture design phase. The current longer term conditioning protocol (R30) adopted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is not as severe as suggested when considering durability/brittleness (Isola et al. 2014; Yin et al. 2016; Cox et al. 2017). This dissertation’s primary objective is to provide guidance on asphalt mixture aging by contributing in four areas: 1) ensuring proper density measurement of field aged cores, 2) provide guidance on increased short term aging time effects in asphalt mixtures, 3) suggest improved mixture conditioning protocols to simulate longer term field aging, and 4) make suggestions for improving binder conditioning protocols to simulate longer term field aging. To these ends, a series of mixture and extracted binder tests were conducted on materials that were used to construct a full-scale test section in Columbus, MS that was monitored for aging for up to 5 after construction. The overall work presented provides simple recommendations or protocols which have the potential to improve the level of scrutiny that can be given to paving materials during the mix design phase and thus improve overall pavement performance.

Nebraska Balanced Mix Design - Phase I

Nebraska Balanced Mix Design - Phase I
Author: Farzad Yazdipanah
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre:
ISBN:

Balanced mix design (BMD) is an alternative concept for designing asphalt mixtures that mainly focuses on performance of mixtures rather than only volumetric analysis. Using this concept, it would be possible to account for the incorporation of recycled asphalt mixtures, warm technology, polymers, rejuvenators, and other foreign additives, as well as external effective factors on the mix design such as environmental effects. This project sought to investigate performance-based methodologies for the asphalt mix design by taking a step to develop a preliminary Nebraska BMD framework. With that, selection of appropriate performance tests, finding a functional laboratory aging protocol, and defining performance test criteria were the main long-term goals developed in this phase of study. To this end, three main types of distresses were taken into consideration (rutting, fatigue cracking, and moisture susceptibility), and a set of performance tests including well-established tests (Hamburg Wheel Track (HWT), Illinois Flexibility Index Test (I-FIT), Tensile Strength Ration (TSR)) and surrogate tests (IDEAL-RT, HT-IDT, G-stability, IDEAL-CT) were selected to capture these distresses on two types of high-performance commonly used asphalt mixtures in Nebraska (SLX and SPR). For the fatigue cracking analysis, long-term aging conditioning was conducted using two common aging protocols (NCHRP 09-54 and NCAT). Three types of data were utilized in this study including laboratory performance test results for the lab-compacted and field core specimens, as well as field data based on pavement surface condition monitoring. The validity of the surrogate performance tests was accomplished not only by correlating the field core results with field condition data, but also with correlating every individual surrogate test result to that of a well-established test. Further, the sensitivity, practicality, cost-effectiveness, and variability of different tests were assessed using statistical

Long-term Aging of Asphalt Mixtures for Performance Testing and Prediction

Long-term Aging of Asphalt Mixtures for Performance Testing and Prediction
Author: Y. Richard Kim
Publisher:
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2021
Genre: Accelerated life testing
ISBN: 9780309674164

TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 973: Long-Term Aging of Asphalt Mixtures for Performance Testing and Prediction: Phase III Results refines the aging procedure developed in the original NCHRP Research Report 871: Long-Term Aging of Asphalt Mixtures for Performance Testing and Prediction. The updates field calibrate the original project aging model (PAM), develop procedures to estimate the PAM inputs, and develop a framework by which the predicted changes in asphalt binder properties that are due to oxidative aging can be related to corresponding changes in asphalt mixture performance.