Shams Hamza, Ullah Hanif, Qiu Yanjun, Abdrhman Hamid, Fu Jianfeng, Yang Enhui
Highway Engineering Key Lab of Sichuan Province, School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, China.
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia.
Sci Rep. 2025 Sep 1;15(1):32194. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-17909-y.
This research provides useful insights into sustainable and cost-effective pavement rehabilitation by evaluating the combined effects of both Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Crumb Rubber (CR) modification on flexible pavement performance using actual motorway sections. Pavement rehabilitation and maintenance can enhance the design and serviceable life of the pavement. Additionally, modification of asphalt with Crumb Rubber (CR) and Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) not only proves to be economical but can also increase the resistance of flexible pavement concerning rutting, fatigue, and moisture damage. Four different pavement sections were selected, which were rehabilitated and modified with Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP), Crumb Rubber (CR), and a combination of both, along the Islamabad-Lahore motorway (M-2), Pakistan. The first pavement section consists of Asphalt Concrete Wearing Course (ACWC) with 60/70 grade bitumen as a binder (RAP 0%, CR 0%), the second pavement section was a mixture of asphalt concrete with crumb rubber modified bitumen as a binder (RAP0%, CR7%), the third pavement section was a blend of 15% RAP with 60/70 grade bitumen as a binder (RAP15%, CR 0%), the fourth section was a mixture of 15% RAP and 7% crumb rubber modified bitumen (RAP 15%, CR 7%). Pavement cores were extracted from the selected four pavement sections, which were experimentally explored in the laboratory to find the impact on the performance of highway pavement employing Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) and Crumb Rubber (CR), partially replacing bituminous binder in the asphalt. The results show notable improvements in rutting resistance, tensile strength, and resilience. It was concluded that the performance of the section employing either RAP, CR or combined RAP and CR modified bitumen better enhanced the performance of pavement in terms of rut depth, indirect tensile strength and modulus of resilience. For instance, rutting depth was reduced by 41.35% and indirect tensile strength of pavement was increased by 17.93% by employing 15% RAP and 7% CR in modified bitumen binder for asphaltic mix. Likewise, the modulus of resilience was increased by 38.23% for the section employing 15% RAP and 7% CR in pavement.
本研究通过使用实际高速公路路段，评估再生沥青路面（RAP）和橡胶颗粒（CR）改性对柔性路面性能的综合影响，为可持续且具成本效益的路面修复提供了有用的见解。路面修复和养护可以提高路面的设计寿命和使用寿命。此外，用橡胶颗粒（CR）和再生沥青路面（RAP）对沥青进行改性不仅经济实惠，还能提高柔性路面抵抗车辙、疲劳和水损害的能力。在巴基斯坦伊斯兰堡-拉合尔高速公路（M-2）沿线，选择了四个不同的路面路段，分别用再生沥青路面（RAP）、橡胶颗粒（CR）以及两者的组合进行修复和改性。第一个路面路段由以60/70级沥青作为粘结剂的沥青混凝土磨耗层（ACWC）组成（RAP 0%，CR 0%），第二个路面路段是一种以橡胶颗粒改性沥青作为粘结剂的沥青混凝土混合物（RAP0%，CR7%），第三个路面路段是15%RAP与60/70级沥青作为粘结剂的混合物（RAP15%，CR 0%），第四个路段是15%RAP和7%橡胶颗粒改性沥青的混合物（RAP 15%，CR 7%）。从选定的四个路面路段提取路面芯样，在实验室进行实验研究，以找出使用再生沥青路面（RAP）和橡胶颗粒（CR）部分替代沥青中的沥青粘结剂对公路路面性能的影响。结果表明，在抗车辙、拉伸强度和回弹性能方面有显著改善。得出的结论是，采用RAP、CR或RAP与CR组合改性沥青的路段性能，在车辙深度、间接拉伸强度和回弹模量方面能更好地提高路面性能。例如，在沥青混合料的改性沥青粘结剂中使用15%RAP和7%CR，车辙深度降低了41.35%，路面的间接拉伸强度提高了17.93%。同样，在路面中使用15%RAP和7%CR的路段，回弹模量提高了38.23%。
