Evaluation of Balanced Mix Design (BMD) Surface Mixtures with Conventional and High RAP Contents under Laboratory-Scale and Full-Scale Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT)

The environmental and economic benefits of using reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) in asphalt mixtures have encouraged state agencies to introduce special provisions and specifications allowing its use at relatively higher contents in mixtures. The Balanced Mix Design (BMD) framework provides an opportunity to properly design and produce engineered asphalt mixtures, including those with higher RAP contents (e.g., HRAP mixtures). In addition to performance testing and evaluation in the laboratory, accelerated pavement testing (APT) serves as a valuable tool to evaluate the performance of full-scale constructed pavements in an accelerated manner, as opposed to long-term pavement performance monitoring. In 2020, a collaborative APT experiment was planned and executed with the purpose of evaluating the application of the BMD concept to design durable and longer-lasting surface mixtures in Virginia, with a specific focus on HRAP mixtures. For this experiment, one control and five BMD mixtures were designed and produced; and six lanes were constructed. Rutting and cracking evaluations were conducted per lane. This project covers the following aspects: (a) BMD concept and design of BMD mixtures; (b) Production of mixtures and assessment of the impact of variability on performance as determined by BMD tests; (c) Documentation of construction details and lessons learned for future experiments; (d) Documentation of laboratory performance properties; and (e) Analysis of data generated from the rutting and cracking field studies. The study’s findings will significantly contribute to VDOT's efforts in developing a higher level of confidence in the performance-based thresholds currently used in the BMD initiative within Virginia. By directly implementing the research findings, it will be possible to verify and refine the existing performance thresholds, resulting in a direct impact on BMD specifications and practices

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $15005
• Contract Numbers:

  124200

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Virginia Transportation Research Council

  530 Edgemont Road
  Charlottesville, VA  United States  22903
• Performing Organizations:

  Virginia Transportation Research Council

  530 Edgemont Road
  Charlottesville, VA  United States  22903

  Virginia Tech Transportation Institute

  3500 Transportation Research Plaza
  Blacksburg, Virginia  United States  24061
• Principal Investigators:

  Habbouche, Jhony

  Diefenderfer, Brian

  Diefenderfer, Stacey

  Tong, Bilin

  Flintsch, Gerardo

• Start Date: 20230801
• Expected Completion Date: 20231231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accelerated tests; Asphalt mixtures; Cracking; Mix design; Pavement performance; Reclaimed asphalt pavements; Rutting
• Geographic Terms: Virginia
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Materials; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01889593
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Virginia Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: 124200
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 3 2023 10:47AM