Construction Technology of Warm Mix Asphalt Pavement in Cold High-Altitude Areas

With the continuous development of domestic highway construction,highway civil engineering and service level quality have attracted much attention.Good pavement quality and high-quality service make people feel comfortable and smooth when traveling.High-quality pavement can significantly reduce the probability of traffic accidents.At present,there is a direct relationship between pavement quality and pavement construction operations.Carrying out pavement construction operations in cold high-altitude areas requires a reasonable selection of construction equipment and methods.The application of warm-mix asphalt pavement construction technology can ensure pavement quality.Therefore,this paper analyzes the advantages of warm-mix technology,the environmental characteristics of cold high-altitude areas,and construction preparations,and discusses the construction technology of warm-mix asphalt pavement in cold high-altitude areas in detail,to improve the overall road quality of cold high-altitude areas.

Warm water wake off northeast Vietnam in the South China Sea

Due to orographic blockage, a weak wind wake occurs in summer off northeast Vietnam in the South China Sea. Under the wind wake, warm water is observed from both high-resolution satellite data and hydrographic observations. The wake of warm water forms in June, continues to mature in July and August, starts to decay in September, and disappears in October. The warm water wake also shows robust diurnal variation – it intensifies during the day and weakens in the night. Warm water wakes can be generated through wind-induced mixing and thermal（latent heat flux） processes. In this paper, a mixed layer model is used to evaluate the relative importance of the two processes on seasonal and diurnal timescales, respectively. The results demonstrate that thermal processes make a greater contribution to the wake than wind-induced mixing processes on a seasonal timescale, while the warm water wake is dominated by wind-induced mixing processes on a diurnal timescale.

Evaluation of asphalt mixture behavior incorporating warm mix additives and reclaimed asphalt pavement

Incorporation of warm mix asphalt （WMA） and reclaimed asphalt pavement （RAP） has benefited the asphalt industry in many ways such as reducing the demand for virgin materials, lowering energy requirement during the asphalt production and construction, in addition to reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. This study evaluated the effects of Evotherm and RH-WMA and RAP on mixtures＇ behavior in terms of the compaction energy index （CEI）, indirect tensile strength （ITS） and resilient modulus. The results showed that warm mix additives reduced the CEI, ITS and resilient modulus; while RAP increased the corresponding values. Statistical analysis showed that mixtures incorporating Evotherm and RAP had significant effects on CEI, while the effects of RH-WMA on the corresponding value were found to be statistically insignificant. General Linear Model showed that Evotherm, RAP and RH-WMA exhibited no significant effects on the ITS and resilient modulus. The one-way analysis of variance showed that Evotherm influenced mixture behavior significantly, while RAP and RH-WMA effects were found to be statistically insignificant. Regression equations with high accuracy levels were proposed to predict CEI, ITS and resilient modulus with respect to modification of mixture variables such as mix constituents （Evotherm, RH-WMA, and RAP） and compaction temperature.

Testing and assessing the performance of a new warm mix asphalt with SMC

Warm mix asphalt （WMA} is a new technology which asphalt mix is produced and placed at normal temperature. It has advantages including low cost, environmentally friendly, haul-convenience, and so on. WMA has been widely tested and applied in the USA in the last decade, but it has just started in China. Recently, a new WMA using a new plastic- macromolecule-normal temperature additive, which was called ＂SMC＂ by the production company, was introduced as asphalt modifier. Based on discussing the strength forming process of this new WMA with SMC, a series of laboratory tests, including Marshall stability test （MST）, boiling test （BT）, modified immersion Marshall test （MIMT）, freeze-thaw split- ring test （FTST）, rutting test （RT）, low-temperature bending test （LTBT）, and abrasion loss test （ALT）, were conducted in this study to assess the performance of this WMA and the capability of applying it on low volume roads in China. SMC modified asphalt mixed under normal temperature is used in testing samples. It was found that this WMA product exhibited merits on its strength, which was about 6.7 kN bigger than the requirement of 5.0 kN in the JTG F40-2004, on high-temperature stability, which is about 1100 times/ram greater than the requirement of 600-1000 times/mm in the ）TG F40-2004, and on its storage stability. Based on these indicators, it is recommended that this product could be used for low volume low class roads construction. However, due to the relatively lower water resistance and low-temperature cracking resistance, this product is suggested to be applied first in the areas with warm weather and little rainfall. In order to improve the perfor- mance of this WMA with SMC, further research on this SMC asphalt modifier should be continued.

Ageing and performance of warm mix asphalt pavements

This paper presents results from investigating the ageing behaviour and performance of different warm mix asphalt （WMA） pavement mixtures also called energy reduced pavements. The mixtures were either prepared in the laboratory or taken directly from a mixing plant. The study compared the rutting and fatigue behaviours of unaged material in comparison to long term laboratory aged material. In order to conduct the long term ageing, a special laboratory ageing protocol with different heating, cooling and watering cycles had been developed. The investigation revealed a quite controversial rutting behavior which could not be explained with the available data. While most aged energy reduced pavements showed increased rutting for other mixtures, lower rut depths could be found. As opposed to this finding, fatigue and stiffness of all aged energy reduced pave- ment samples compared to unaged samples improved significantly. The overall results led to the conclusion that the ageing of energy reduced pavement simulated in the laboratory is not very critical regarding their mechanical performance. Therefore, it was confrmed that the application of this type of pavement provides a good solution for saving on CO2 emissions. Another advantage is that by using energy reduced pavements the road con- struction season can be significantly prolonged.

Identification of parameter to assess cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures subjected to aging and moisture conditioning

This study comprehensively evaluated different parameters based on tensile strength testing to assess the cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures subjected to aging and moisture conditioning.For this purpose,two sources of aggregates were selected to produce hot and warm mix asphalt mixtures.Asphalt mixtures were subjected to short term and long term aging,three levels of moisture conditioning(freeze thaw cycles),and tested at two temperatures(15℃and 25℃).The load-displacement data was used to determine the fracture work density,fracture energy,toughness index,cracking resistance index,cracking tolerance index,and rate dependent cracking index.It was noticed that moisture conditioning increased the variability of the different parameters.The cracking tolerance index and rate dependent cracking index parameter had a much higher coefficient of variation(Co V)with a maximum value close to 50%.Indirect tensile strength,fracture energy,and fracture work density appropriately captured the effect of moisture on cracking resistance of mixtures.The cracking resistance index,cracking tolerance index,and rate dependent cracking index increased with an increase in the moisture conditioning level.The Statistical analysis showed that tensile strength,fracture work density,and fracture energy were significantly influenced by different aging and moisture conditions evaluated.Fracture energy showed better association with fatigue life of asphalt mixtures subjected to three freeze-thaw cycles compared to tensile strength.Further,the fatigue life prediction models showed that both indirect tensile strength and fracture energy significantly influence the fatigue life of asphalt mixtures subjected to aging and moisture conditioning.

Characterization of effects of thermal property of aggregate on the carbon footprint of asphalt industries in China

In this study, the effects of the thermal properties of asphalt binders and aggregate ma- terials were characterized in terms of the specific heat capacity （C） for energy consumption and environmental footprints of hot mix asphalt （HMA） and warm mix asphalt （WMA）. Asphalt mixes produced using low-C aggregate are found to be more energy-efficient and environmental friendly, irrespective of the binder type and construction technology. Therefore, different fractions of aggregate blends were replaced with the aggregate pro- vided from a ]ow-C source or sustainable source. Analysis of energy consumption clearly indicated that the specific energy and environmental footprints decrease linearly as the low-C aggregate content increases. The amount of energy saving realized in the asphalt industries by the use of low-C aggregate is significant on a national scale in China. In this regard, China was chosen as a case study. Analysis of fuel requirement clearly indicated that the production of WMA using high thermal sensitivity aggregate can yield significant energy saving sufficient to fuel 44,007 to 664,880 Chinese households per year. Therefore, use of low C aggregate in asphalt mix production can be adopted as a strategy to produce WMA and HMA.

Ethanol based foamed asphalt as potential alternative for low emission asphalt technology

Foamed asphalt typically relies on water as a foaming agent because water becomes gaseous at elevated temperatures, generating numerous tiny bubbles in the asphalt and causing spontaneous foaming. In this study, ethanol was used as a potential alternative to water as a foaming agent. Ethanol is expected to be a physical blowing agent in the same manner as water, except it requires less energy to foam due to its 78 ℃ boiling point. This study compares the performance of water and ethanol as foaming agents through the measurements of rotational viscosity, the reduction in temperature during foaming, and volatile loss. The ethanol-foamed asphalt binders were prepared at 80 ~C and 100 ~C, while the water-foamed asphalt binders were prepared at 100 ~C and 120 ~＇C. Additionally, the rolling thin film oven （RTFO） was used to generate short-term aging of the foamed asphalt binders. A rotational viscometer was used to determine the viscosity of the asphalt binders at 80 ~C, 100 ~C, 120 ~C, 140 ~C, and 160 ~C. Overall, ethanol can function in the same manner as water but requires less energy to foam. It is proven based on the smaller drop in temperature of the asphalt binder foamed using ethanol compared with that prepared with water. This is due to the lower latent heat capacity of ethanol, which requires less energy to vaporize compared with water. Through the rotational viscometer test, ethanol performs better in lowering the viscosity of asphalt binders, which is essential in allowing produc- tion processes at low temperatures, as well as a better workability and aggregate coating. Ethanol can be expelled from the foamed asphalt binders at a higher rate due to its lower boiling point and latent heat.