Abstract
Asphalt pavement construction technology is an industry branch that undergoes constant development. Analyzing the directions of the development, one can divide it into two mainstreams: the development of roadworks equipment and the development of roadworks technology. Microwave heating technique has been mentioned in the road industry from the early ‘70s, but research records from practical full-scale use are very rare. This article presents the evaluation of the possible use of microwave heating technique during a particular aspect of the construction process, namely, the formation of longitudinal joints and the potential repair process of the cracked asphalt pavement. Research results showed that joints constructed using microwave-assisted heating performed the same or even better with regards to tensile characteristics comparing to other techniques. Also, the highest level of compaction was reached among the other tested techniques applied to the wearing course level. The second part of the research experiment showed the large potential of the microwave crack healing technique. The asphalt pavement was healed on its full depth of 10 cm with the single healing operation applied. Although some limitations may occur in the practical use of microwave heating, the test results suggest that it is a very promising technique and should be further developed (for, e.g., shielding concerns, electricity supply). The microwave heating technique is powered with electricity, which is important when there is a constant need for further reductions of CO2 emissions. It can be reached in parallel with clean energy or clean electricity sources.
Highlights
Proper paving of the asphalt layer is a very complex process requiring controlling and synchronizing of many separate processes to gain successful and durable effect
Experimental errors were published in terms of the confidence intervals (CI) provided in the figure bars with the probability of 90%
Longitudinal joint-forming technique assisted with microwave heating (MW) was placed in the group of other vertical treated or untreated joints, bringing the same or better tensile strength in different temperature ranges
Summary
Proper paving of the asphalt layer is a very complex process requiring controlling and synchronizing of many separate processes to gain successful and durable effect. A seamless asphalt layer with no vertical discontinuities, would be the most desirable method, but it is not possible in 75% of cases [1]. It requires formation of the joints or wedges that are of worse quality in terms of pavement properties than monolith multilayered structure [2]. Because the pavement joint area is usually characterized by a lowered compaction degree, asphalt mix segregation or discontinuity, it is vulnerable to premature deterioration. In the case of asphalt pavements, the repair is usually done using hot-applied joint sealants or cold-applied joint sealants and materials [6]
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