Performance evaluation of jointed plain concrete pavement made with Portland cement concrete containing reclaimed asphalt pavement

摘要

A lack of good understanding of effect of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) on portland cement concrete (PCC)'s properties and its impact on pavement performance has hindered the implementation of pavement made with PCC containing RAP (RAP-PCC) in the field. In this study, a complete set of the RAP-PCC's properties, including modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE), Poisson's ratio, coefficient of thermal expansion (CoTE), density, and thermal properties was experimentally determined. The critical stress and deflection of the jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) slabs were calculated using a finite element tool, followed by an evaluation of pavement performance covering different distress types using the models in the Pavement ME. Based on the simulation results, the RAP-PCC's lower MOE may compensate the increase in tensile stress of the slab caused by the material's higher CoTE, but the reduction in the tensile strength is too significant, leading to a higher stress to strength ratio. The higher stress to strength ratio is likely to lead to increased chances of fatigue cracking. Additionally, the reduced MOE and increased CoTE of the RAP-PCC would cause higher differential between corner deflections and consequently yield higher faulting and base erosion. These simulation findings match well with the field data for the JPCP section containing recycled concrete aggregate in Oklahoma. To enhance RAP based JPCP performance, blending RAP aggregates with virgin aggregate that has a low CoTE together with formulating dense graded concrete can be effective to improve the strengths and reduce CoTE of the RAP-PCC mixtures. A strong base shall be used to mitigate base erosion and faulting of the RAP-PCC slab.