Characteristics of Fatigue Resistance of Recycled Asphalt Concretes by Modified Mixing Process

This study evaluated the fatigue resistance characteristics of hot-mix recycled asphalt mixtures which were prepared by a new blending method. Since the binder of RAP shows higher viscosity without being rejuvenated in the ordinary recycled mixture, this new(modified) blending method was developed for obtaining more uniform level of binder viscosity in the recycled mixture. Cold-planned RAP was collected and mix design was performed using 15% RAP content for two virgin aggregate, gneiss and granite. Penetration grade of 60-80 asphalt was used in mixing recycled mixture together with a polymer modifier, LDPE. Indirect tensile fatigue tests were carried out to evaluate characteristics of fatigue resistance of performance of recycled asphalt mixtures. The recycled mixtures with LDPE 6% showed higher repeated loading fatigue life. Fatigue life ratio of new(N) mixing method mixtures was approximately 0.6-0.7 before aging and 0.8-1.0 after aging treatment of ordinary(O) mixing method mixture. This means the N mixture becomes stronger with aging process increase. If further aging is treated, N mixture may be showing stronger resistance than O mixture.