The effect of RAP content on fatigue damage property of hot reclaimed asphalt mixtures

Abstract

The fatigue property of the recycled mixture affects the structural design of recycled pavement. In order to explore the effect of different reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) content on the fatigue properties of recycled mixtures, the fatigue properties of recycled mixtures were analyzed through an indoor fatigue test and finite element numerical simulation. Based on the phenomenological method and the dissipated energy theory, the fatigue properties of recycled mixtures with different RAP contents were analyzed and the fatigue damage of the mixtures were also studies under various strain levels. Based on the finite element numerical model of fatigue damage, the stress distribution and internal damage field distribution of trabecular specimens under different temperatures, strain levels and RAP contents were analyzed. The results showed that the anti-fatigue level of the mixture decreased as the RAP content was increased. The relative change rate of dissipated energy for different types of mixtures showed a two-stage change rule with the change of load times, that is, the value is large and decreasing, and the value is small and stable. The correlation between the plateau value (PV) and the fatigue life was established under the double logarithm coordinates, which could better analyze the influence law of the RAP content on the fatigue performance of the recycled mixture. Under different temperatures, strain levels, and RAP contents, the stress at the bottom of trabecular specimen and the overall damage field were mainly generated at the upper part under compressive stress and the bottom under tensile stress, and the damage field distribution area accounted for a small part of the whole specimen. According to the test results and fatigue damage distribution, it is recommended that the content of recycled aggregate in recycled asphalt mixtures be less than 30% to ensure good performance. The research results have important practical significance for the improvement of fatigue performance and engineering application of recycled mixtures.

Keywords

• road engineering
• recycled mixture
• mechanical damage calculation
• rap content
• fatigue performance
• fatigue damage