NRRA: Long-term Testing and Analysis on Asphalt Mix Rejuvenator Field Sections

Summary:

The objective of this research project was to evaluate the effectiveness of seven reclaimed asphalt (RA) products over time and evaluate their performance as compared to the control mixtures. The study showed that all RAs exhibited improved rheological properties in 1-year field cores. However, the benefits of RA diminished with field aging, and after four years, some RAs showed comparable properties with controls. It is noted that RAs inherently have higher carbonyl ratios than controls, and this baseline ratio varies among different RAs. Regarding field performance, the first four years of distress is primarily composed of transverse cracking. Only a few instances of longitudinal cracking appeared in the fourth year. The ride quality and rutting values are minimal. Based on four years of collected cracking performance data, all RAs have demonstrated some improvement in transverse crack resistance compared to the 40% RAP control, but they have not reached the performance level of the 30% control. The main distress type in the first four years for the studied test sections is transverse cracking, with longitudinal cracking expected to accumulate in the following years. The long-term effects of RAs on pavement rutting and roughness remain unclear.

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