Evaluating properties of wood ash modified asphalt mixtures

Abstract

Nowadays, sustainable development has gained more attention because humanity will face the problem of energy shortage in the near future. Biomass' consumption has increased year by year as it is a renewable material. However, there will be a lot of ash residue after combustion biomass, which can cause pollution problems. This research investigates the potential use of wood ash as filler replacement in the asphalt mixture because wood ash has similar physical and chemical properties to traditional fillers. Wood ash used in this study consisted of 100% passing the 0.075 mm sieve and 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% conventional filler (by weight) were replaced by the wood ash. Marshall Stability & Flow, Resilient Modulus, Rutting performance and Fatigue performance tests were employed to determine the influence of wood ash as filler to the hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixture. The results showed that present wood ash in the asphalt mixture could improve fatigue performance, reduce permanent deformation, and increase the resilient modulus of the asphalt mixture. Therefore, wood ash can be used as the filler substitute material for asphalt mixture.