Recycled Asphalt as an Alternative to Natural Aggregates for Forest Road Reinforcement

Abstract

The objective of the present paper is to confirm or reject the possible use of recycled asphalt to reinforce forest haul roads regarding the technical requirements set by the standards and directives relevant to the construction of forest road surfaces. The hypothesis is based on the presumption that recycled materials, if correctly used, can reach the same construction properties as standard materials, hence their application does not have a negative effect on reinforcement quality. On a selected stretch of the forest road, three test sections were constructed with the use of recycled asphalt, however, each of them with a different technological solution. The first section was reinforced with unbound mixture – Type1 without added water, the second section was constructed using a version of vibrated macadam technology, and recycled asphalt was applied to the third section by the method of basic compacting. In each of the sections, tacheometric cross profile measurement was carried out at monthly intervals to monitor the changes in the cross profile shape, and the number of passages of fully loaded logging trucks was registered; static load tests were performed at pre-defined time intervals to determine the deformation moduli such as deformation characteristics of the road surface structural layers. In all three reinforcement versions, the values of deformation moduli observed during the static load tests were between 68–90% of the values set by relevant standards for these technologies using natural aggregates. However, the tacheometric measurements did not reveal statistically significant changes in the shape of the reinforcement cross-section. Based on the obtained results, applying recycled asphalt to reinforce forest roads seems to be a suitable alternative to natural quarry aggregate used in unbound structural layers. Recycled material needs to meet the regulatory limits for foreign elements and pass ecotoxicity tests, which is evidenced by a certificate on material compliance issued by the test laboratory.