Geo-Congress 2014 Technical Papers, GSP 234 © ASCE 2014 2255

Sustainable Stabilization of Recycled Asphalt Pavement (RAP) Bases

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Jitendra K. Thakur1, Jie Han2, Robert L. Parsons2, and Jun Guo2

1
Terracon Consultants, Inc.; formerly graduate research assistant at the University of Kansas
2
Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, the University of Kansas,
Lawrence, Kansas 66045

ABSTRACT

When flexible pavements reach their service life, they are often rehabilitated by removing
existing hot mix asphalt (HMA) surfaces and replacing the removed portion with new HMA or
concrete. A large amount of recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) materials are created every year
during the rehabilitation and reconstruction of existing flexible pavements. Due to the existence
of asphalt, 100% RAP typically has low stiffness and high creep and permanent deformation
potentials under traffic loading, which become the concerns in the use of RAP as a base course.
The use of RAP for pavement construction by itself is a sustainable option and more
sustainability can be obtained by increasing the life of such pavements. Geocell, a three-
dimensional geosynthetic product, has been proposed by the authors to stabilize RAP bases. A
series of medium-scale static plate loading tests and large-scale cyclic plate loading tests were
conducted on unstabilized and geocell-stabilized RAP bases to investigate their stiffness, and
creep and permanent deformations. The test results showed that geocell significantly reduced the
creep and permanent deformations of the RAP bases and increased the resilient deformation and
stiffness of the RAP bases. Therefore, 100% RAP can be used as a base course material with
geocell confinement as a sustainable roadway construction technology.

INTRODUCTION

According to the National Asphalt Pavement Association (NAPA), more than 90% of U.S. roads
and highways are paved with hot-mix asphalt (HMA) (Copeland et al., 2010). The federal, state,
and local transportation agencies are facing an increasing demand of raw materials needed for
new and rehabilitation road projects. RAP is the surplus material generated from the
reprocessing of removed flexible pavements. HMA producers and different transportation
agencies suggest RAP as an alternative to virgin aggregate and asphalt to fulfill the shrinking
supply of raw materials and deal with the rising costs of aggregates and binders (Copeland et al.,
2010).
According to the Recycled Material Resource Center (RMRC, 2008), typical RAP
contains 3 to 7% asphalt binder and 93 to 97% aggregate. Literature showed that 100% RAP
could not produce base course of high quality. It is necessary, therefore, to stabilize the RAP
base by some means to improve the performance of roads. Several studies (Li et al., 2007; Attia,
2010; Potturi, 2006; Bennert et al., 2000; Taha et al., 1999; Clary et al., 1997) have been

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conducted in the past to improve the performance of RAP bases by blending RAP with virgin
aggregates and stabilizing RAP using chemical additives. They found that increasing virgin
aggregate content in the blends reduced resilient modulus (MR) and permanent deformation and
increased CBR of blended RAP samples, whereas increasing fly ash content increased MR and
CBR and reduced permanent deformation of fly ash-stabilized RAP. However, the blending of
RAP with virgin aggregate still consumes natural resources and the chemical stabilization of
RAP is not necessarily environmental friendly. Limited research (Thakur et al., 2012a, b; Han et
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al., 2011; Bortz et al., 2012) has been done to improve the quality of RAP bases using
geosynthetics, especially geocell. Geocell was used in this study to stabilize the RAP base. The
RAP was placed inside the geocell pocket for stabilization as shown in Figure 1. A series of
static and cyclic plate loading tests were conducted on unstabilized and geocell-stabilized RAP
bases to investigate the benefits of geocell confinement on the improvement in the stiffness,
creep, permanent, and resilient deformation behavior of RAP bases.

Figure 1 RAP placed inside the geocell pocket

MEDIUM-SCALE STATIC PLATE LOADING TEST

A series of static plate loading tests on unstabilized and single geocell-stabilized and multi
geocell-stabilized RAP bases were conducted to investigate the benefits of geocell confinement
on the improvement in the stiffness and creep deformation behavior of RAP bases. The RAP
bases were placed inside the medium size wooden boxes (600 mm x 600 mm or 800 mm x 800
mm) without any subgrade. The thickness of the RAP base was 120 mm and was prepared in
three lifts of 40 mm each. The details of these bases and the loading system can be found in
Thakur et al. (2013a). The loading system had a 150 mm diameter air cylinder with a maximum
air pressure of 900 kPa and the loading plate was 150 mm in diameter as shown in Figure 2.
Loads were applied on a rigid metal plate in increments by adjusting the air pressure in the air
cylinder and the deformation of the bases corresponding to each load was recorded at every five-
minute interval. It was found that RAP bases did not fail up to the vertical stress of 586 kPa and
the deformation of the bases increased linearly with increasing vertical stresses. The stiffness
improvement factor was determined from the vertical stress-deformation curve as shown in
Figure 3 and was found that the stiffness values of single geocell-stabilized and multi-geocell-

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stabilized bases were increased by 1.2 and 1.6 times compared to the unstabilized RAP bases,
respectively. The stiffness improvement factor is the ratio of the slope of the initial portion of the
vertical stress-deformation curve for the geocell-stabilized base to that of the unstabilized base.
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Loading plate

Dial gages Box

Figure 2 Loading system for medium-scale static plate loading tests (from Thakur et al., 2012a)

Vertical stress (kPa)

0 100 200 300 400 500 600
0

5
Deformation (mm)

10

15

20
Unstabilized base
Single geocell-stabilized base
25
Multi geocell-stabilized base

30

Figure 3 Vertical stress versus deformation curve (from Thakur et al., 2012a)

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The effects of geocell confinement and vertical stress on the creep deformations of RAP
bases were also investigated by conducting static plate loading tests under constant vertical
stresses of 276 kPa and 552 kPa for about 7 to 10 days. The deformation with time was recorded
during each test. The axial creep strain was determined from the measured creep deformation
and the thickness of the RAP base. The axial creep strain versus time curves for unstabilized and
multi geocell-stabilized bases are shown in Figure 4 for the demonstration purpose. The creep
behavior of the RAP was further evaluated by calculating the slope of the curve to determine the
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rate of creep. The creep strain rates for each time interval were calculated using two consecutive
creep strain values and their corresponding time and it was observed that at the early stage of
loading, the creep strain rates decreased with the loading time up to 2,000 minutes followed by a
nearly constant strain rate as shown in Figure 4. The creep strain observed from 0 to 2,000
minutes was termed as the primary creep as the creep strain rate decreased with the loading time
up to 2,000 minutes whereas that after 2,000 minutes was termed the secondary creep as the
creep curves showed a nearly constant rate after 2,000 minutes. The average rates of the
secondary creep of unstabilized and multi geocell-stabilized RAP were calculated from the
slopes of the creep curves between 2,000 and 9,000 minutes. The rates of the secondary creep of
unstabilized and multi geocell-stabilized RAP base expressed in percent per minute at two
vertical stresses are shown in Figure 5. It is clearly shown that the unstabilized RAP base had
higher amount of creep deformation and creep rate than the geocell-stabilized RAP bases. The
geocell stabilization reduced the amount and rate of the creep deformation of the RAP base and
the creep deformation increased with an increase in the applied vertical stress.

30

25
Axial creep strain (%)

20

15

10

Multi geocell-stabilized (276 kPa)

5 Multi geocell-stabilized (552 kPa)
Unstabilized (276 kPa)
Unstabilized (552 kPa)
0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000

Time (minute)

Figure 4 Axial creep strain versus time curve (data from Thakur et al., 2012a)

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Axial creep rate (x 10-4 %/min) 6

4
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0
Unstabilized (276 Multi geocell- Unstabilized (552 Multi geocell-
kPa) stabilized (276 kPa) kPa) stabilized (552 kPa)

Figure 5 Axial creep rate for RAP base at different vertical stresses

LARGE-SCALE CYCLIC PLATE LOADING TESTS

Nine cyclic plate loading tests were conducted on unstabilized and geocell-stabilized RAP bases
over weak (target CBR ≈ 2%) and moderate (target CBR ≈ 5%) subgrade in a large steel box
(2200 mm x 2000 mm x 2000 mm high) equipped with a servo hydraulic MTS loading system.
The subgrade consisted of 75% Kansas River (KR) sand and 25 % Kaolin. The RAP bases were
constructed over the prepared subgrade. The thicknesses of bases were 150 mm, 230 mm, and
300 mm. The test sections were instrumented with displacement transducers at the top of the
prepared base, earth pressure cells at the interface of base and subgrade, and the strain gages on
the wall of geocell. The loading actuator with a capacity of 245 kN and a loading plate of 300
mm diameter were used. The cyclic load with a peak force of 40 kN and a trough force of 0.5
kN at a frequency of 0.77 Hz was applied during the test. The details of test sections preparation,
instrumentations, and the loading system and test results can be found in Thakur et al. (2012b).
Figures 6 and 7 show the permanent and resilient deformations of the test sections with 300 mm
thick RAP bases, respectively. The geocell reduced the amount and rate of the permanent
deformation and increased the amount resilient deformation of the RAP bases. The RAP bases
over the weak subgrade had higher permanent deformation than those over the moderate
subgrade. The permanent deformation increased with the number of loading cycles for all test
sections. The resilient deformation increased rapidly during the first few loading cycles and then
stabilized to a constant value for the sections with stabilized bases and unstabilized base over
moderate subgrade.

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60

Permanent deformation (mm)

50

40
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30

Stabilized (Subgrade CBR = 2%)

20
Stabilized (Subgrade CBR = 5%)

10 Unstabilized (Subgrade CBR = 2%)

Unstabilized (Subgrade CBR = 5%)
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Number of loading cycles

Figure 6 Permanent deformation versus the number of loading cycles (300 mm thick base)

12
Resilient deformation (mm)

10

Stabilized (Subgrade CBR = 2%)

2 Stabilized (Subgrade CBR = 5%)
Unstabilized (Subgrade CBR = 2%)
Unstabilized (Subgrade CBR = 5%)
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Number of loading cycles

Figure 7 Resilient deformation versus the number of loading cycles (300 mm thick base)

CONCLUSIONS

The following conclusions can be made from this study:

(1) Stabilizing recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) with geocell can be a sustainable option for
road construction.

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(2) Geocell increased the resilient deformation and stiffness of RAP bases
(3) Geocell reduced the amount and rate of creep and permanent deformations of RAP bases

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was sponsored by the Mid-America Transportation Research Center and the
Geosynthetic Institute under its GSI Fellowship Program for the first author. RAP materials
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were supplied by R.D. Johnson Excavating, Co. Mr. Howard Jim Weaver, the former laboratory
manager, Mr. Kahle Loveless and Mr. Aj Rahman provided great assistance during the laboratory
tests. The authors appreciate all the above support.

REFERENCES

Attia, MIE-S. (2010). Characterization of the structural behavior of reclaimed asphalt pavement
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State University.
Bennert, T., Papp Jr, W.J., Maher A, and Gucunski N. (2000). “Utilization of construction and
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Bortz, B.S., Hossain, M., Halami, I, and Gisi, A. (2012). “Low-volume paved road improvement
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Clary, J.A., DeGroot, D.J., Highter, W.H. (1997). Structural numbers for reclaimed asphalt
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Thakur, J.K., Han, J., and Parsons, R.L. (2012a). Creep behavior of geocell-reinforced recycled
asphalt pavement (RAP) bases. ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering (in press).

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Thakur, J.K., Han, J., Pokharel, S.K., and Parsons, R.L. (2012b). “Performance of geocell-
reinforced recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) bases over weak subgrade under cyclic plate
loading.” Geotextiles and Geomembranes, 35, 14-24.
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Geo-Congress 2014 Technical Papers