Hot recycled asphalt mixtures with the incorporation of milled material: analysis of the mechanical performance and economic presumption in the applicability of the technique

Abstract

The paving technique ensures the guarantee of functional traffic conditions, optimizing the performance of the structure in providing travel with comfort and safety. Considering that due to time and the action of traffic, when the pavement reaches the end of its useful life, interventions are necessary, aiming at a gain in serviceability, comprised of the thinning of the coating, generating waste, for later execution of a new layer, which can be recycled. This recurrent technique for road pavements has been widely applied to the use of RAP (reclaimed asphalt pavement), to compose new layers of pavement, given its mechanical performance, especially in terms of permanent deformation, and given the sustainable and economical premise. The paper sought to evaluate, using a laboratory study, the mechanical performance of hot recycled asphalt mixtures with the incorporation of 25%, 45%, and 100% of RAP, and to perform an economic analysis of the applicability of the technique. The dosage methodology occurred according to the Superpave specification whose results listed a significant gain in stiffness, and good mechanical performance with proportionality in the values obtained according to the incorporation rate of RAP. As for the economic analysis, it was observed that the costs of applicability of the technique are related to the percentage of incorporation in mass and the logistical costs of processing, which may be lower than or higher than that of a conventional mixture. Above all, the results were satisfactory to prove the feasibility of the technique in paving works.