CHARACTERIZATION AND DESIGN OF RECYCLED ASPHALT CONCRETE MIXTURES USING INDIRECT TENSILE TEST METHODS (TEXAS)

The increasing interest in and use of recycled pavement materials has created a need for information related to the engineering properties of such materials. This dissertation summarizes the findings of a laboratory study to characterize and design recycled asphalt concrete mixtures using the static and repeated-load indirect tensile tests.; An extensive literature search was conducted to compare the properties of recycled asphalts to those of virgin asphalts, and to summarize the findings of previous studies of recycled pavement materials.; The laboratory study was conducted on materials from six recycling projects in Texas. The types and amounts of asphalt and aggregate additives were varied and the effects on the tensile properties were determined. Estimates of tensile strength and static and resilient elastic properties were obtained and compared to those reported for conventional mixtures.; The findings of this and other studies indicate that high quality asphalt concrete mixtures can be produced using salvaged pavement materials.; The information gained thus far was used to improve the existing mixture design procedure for recycled asphalt pavement mixtures. A step-by-step mixture design procedure is presented.