Effect of Waste Fillers on the Rutting and Fatigue Behavior of Asphalt Mastic and Mixes

Abstract

This study compared the performance of rutting and fatigue resistance of asphalt mastics and mixes prepared with waste fillers (limestone sludge (LS) and glass powder (GP)) to the conventional stone dust (SD) filler counterparts. Physical and chemical properties of fillers were determined. Asphalt concrete mixes were prepared at three different filler proportions (4, 5.5 and 7%) and their optimum asphalt contents (OAC) were determined. The asphalt mastics for all mixes were prepared at their respective filler binder ratio and their rutting and fatigue analysis was conducted using multiple stress creep and recovery (MSCR) and linear amplitude sweep (LAS) analyses. At their OAC’s, indirect tensile strength, Marshall quotient, resilient modulus and fatigue lives of asphalt concrete mixes were analyzed. Both LS and GP mixes displayed superior rutting resistance and fatigue resistance than conventional mixes due to their tendency to display higher stiffening and crack pinning behavior caused by the finer particle size and lower specific gravity. This trend was more or less similar in the case of mastics as well. Overall, mastics and mixes prepared with GP and LS displayed superior performance than standard SD filler and hence they could be utilized as alternative fillers.