Quantitative study on fatigue characteristics of warm mix recycled asphalt

Abstract

The warm mix recycling technology of asphalt pavement can improve the utilization rate of solid waste in highway construction industry on a large scale, and reduce the emission of harmful gases ( NOX, CO2, benzopyrene, etc.) in the process of road construction. It is one of the effective ways to realize carbon neutrality in highway construction industry. The main purpose of this study is to systematically analyze the fatigue characteristics of warm mix recycled asphalt (WMRA) from the perspective of quantitative research, and to provide scientific basis for the popularization and application of this technology. Therefore, this study mainly evaluated the anti-fatigue characteristics of WMRA under different conditions based on the linear amplitude sweeping test ( LAS test). Based on the calculation and analysis of the commonly used fatigue judgment indexes ( stress-strain curve, phase angle-strain curve, S×N curve ( S is the ratio of the instantaneous modulus to the initial modulus of the material, which is often replaced by the virtual modulus in the LAS test, and N is the number of cyclic loadings.), virtual strain storage energy-strain curve), the peak strain of virtual strain storage energy is recommended as the fatigue judgment standard from the perspective of reliability and accuracy, and the peak strain of damage factor is proposed as one of the new fatigue judgment standards. In this paper, the nucleation of microcracks and the coalescence of microcracks are distinguished in the process of fatigue damage evolution, and the peak strain of virtual strain energy storage and the peak strain of damage factor are used as the judging indexes respectively. Finally, based on the theory of continuum damage mechanics, the loss modulus of WMRA is selected as the representative value of material properties to calculate the virtual modulus and damage factor, and the fatigue damage evolution model of WMRA based on the viscoelastic continuum damage model ( VECD model) was constructed. Based on this model, the anti-fatigue characteristics of WMRA with the reclaimed asphalt pavement ( RAP) content were analyzed.