The Influence of a Field-Aged Asphalt Binder and Aggregates on the Skid Resistance of Recycled Hot Mix Asphalt

Abstract

The application of asphalt hot mix recycling is one challenge in sustainable road pavement research. In addition to the vast amount of research on the performance of recycled asphalt–concrete, the research on the frictional resistance of recycled hot mix asphalt is still limited. The effects of aged asphalt and aged aggregates on the skid resistance of recycled hot mix asphalt were investigated in this research. The aged asphalt and aged aggregates were carefully extracted from the field-reclaimed asphalt pavement, and the engineering and mechanical properties of aged and virgin aggregates were measured. The degradation of recycled hot mix asphalt was simulated using an accelerated polishing machine to mimic road surface abrasion. Accordingly, the initial and final skid resistances of the recycled hot mix asphalt were determined and correlated with the properties of the aged asphalt and aggregates. The initial skid resistance of recycled hot mix asphalt decreased with reductions in penetration and ductility of the blended asphalt. However, the changes in the blended asphalt properties contributed only small variations to the final skid resistances of the recycled hot mix asphalt. The gradations of recycled hot mix asphalt correlated only with the final skid resistances. The aggregate gradations controlled the characteristics of the final skid resistance since the covered binder was partially polished off from the road surface at this stage.