Fracture investigation of asphalt mixtures containing reclaimed asphalt pavement using an equivalent energy approach

Abstract Asphalt concrete is linear-elastic at low temperatures and visco-elastic–plastic at intermediate temperatures. Stress intensity factor ( K I C ) is generally used to evaluate the fracture performance at low temperatures; while the energy release rate, J -integral, could be employed at intermediate temperatures. Based on energy approach, this study adopted an equivalent stress intensity factor ( K I C ∗ ) to evaluate the fracture toughness of asphalt concretes from low to intermediate temperatures. Semi-circular bending (SCB) tests were conducted on specimens incorporated with five different content of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%). Specimens with 100% RAP and rejuvenator were also prepared to explore the impact of rejuvenator. At − 10 and 0°C, stress intensity factor ( K I C ) and fracture energy ( G F ) were measured. G F refers to the work of fracture divided by the ligament area. At 25°C, J -integral and K I C ∗ were calculated. Test results indicate that at − 10 and 0°C, both K I C and G F decreased remarkably with the content increase of RAP. K I C s at 0°C were lower than those at − 10°C; while G F s at 0°C were larger than those at − 10°C. At 25°C, as the content of RAP increased, both J -integral and K I C ∗ increased, indicating RAP enhances the fracture performance at the intermediate temperature. The results also demonstrate that the equivalent stress intensity factor criterion can be used to evaluate the low-intermediate temperature fracture potentials of asphalt concretes. Rejuvenator was proved to be effective in enhancing the fracture resistance at both low and intermediate temperatures.