Fatigue behaviour of reclaimed pavement materials treated with cementitious binders

Abstract

Fatigue is one of the most common modes of failure in both flexible and rigid pavements. Several studies have been conducted to study this phenomenon for pavement materials such as bituminous mixes, Portland cement concrete, and cement treated aggregates and soils. The fatigue behaviour of full-depth reclaimed pavement material treated with cementitious binders (FRPMC), however, has barely been studied. FRPMC are composed of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) aggregates, granular base course/sub-base aggregate, fine grained soil particles and 3%–6% cementitious binders. As a result, FRPMC have different properties than bituminous mixes and Portland cement concrete. In this study, the fatigue behaviour of FRPMC was assessed using four-point bending test, which was conducted in strain-control mode. The objectives of the study were to assess the fatigue life range of FRPMC at different strain levels, identify the influence of various cementitious stabilizer on the fatigue life and investigate the response of FRPMC to cyclic loadings. Eight mixtures and forty-eight beam specimens were prepared for the study using the two types of reclaimed materials and four types of binders. The findings of the study indicated that the type of cementitious stabilizers used did not have significant effect on the fatigue life of FRPMC mixtures. It was also identified that FRPMC behaves as a quasi-brittle material while possessing some properties of viscoelastic materials.