Rutting Evaluation of Hot and Warm Mix Asphalt Concrete under High Aircraft Tire Pressure and Temperature at National Airport Pavement and Materials Research Center

Abstract

The aircraft industry’s propensity to increase the range of aircraft results in increased gross weight and tire pressure. Therefore, performance assessment of airfield asphalt concrete mixes under such high tire pressure and extreme environmental exposure becomes imperative for sustainable design implementation. Moreover, a lack of scientific information on the field performance has been a major roadblock in the adoption of green technologies like warm mix asphalt (WMA). An accelerated pavement testing study was undertaken at the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Airport Pavement and Materials Research Center to evaluate the rutting performance of hot and warm asphalt mixes at two different binder grades. Six test lanes were constructed – four outdoors and two indoors, each encompassing three different test sections. The constructed test sections were subjected to different combinations of tire pressure, temperature, and environmental exposure using a custom-designed airport heavy vehicle simulator. Both field performance and laboratory characterization tests indicated that WMA exhibited comparable performance to hot mix asphalt. Environmental aging was found to be conducive to the curing and enhanced rutting performance of polymer-modified WMA.