Experimental Evaluation of Performance in Polyethylene Terephthalate Modified Asphalt Mixtures Using Dry Mixing Methods

Abstract

High-quality pavement materials at reasonable prices are crucial for managing many heavy truck loads and hot weather conditions that present significant challenges for researchers, managers, and engineers. One effective strategy is to incorporate polymers into modified asphalt or asphalt mixtures. However, there are several notable challenges when using polymers in asphalt concrete, particularly related to mixing procedures and methods. Worldwide, two primary mixing methods are commonly used, including traditional dry and modified dry techniques. The dry method is usually preferred for using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) due to its various advantages. The indirect tensile strength, static resilient modulus, dynamic modulus, and fatigue tests were examined for all asphalt mixtures with PET using both dry methods. The findings from this research suggest that the modified dry mixing method is more effective, particularly regarding fatigue resistance, based on a systematic analysis of the results. In addition to these experimental investigations, an analysis of flexible pavement design for a typical pavement section has been conducted. This analysis utilized the experimental resilient modulus of all mixtures to predict fatigue life based on the Asphalt Institute model.