Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015

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Construction and Building Materials

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Crack resistance of hot mix asphalt containing different percentages

of reclaimed asphalt pavement and glass fiber
Hassan Ziari a, M.R.M. Aliha b,⇑, Ali Moniri c, Yasha Saghafi c
a
Asphalt and Bitumen Research Center (ABRC), School of Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran
b
Welding and Joining Research Center, School of Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, 16846-13114 Tehran, Iran
c
School of Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), Narmak, Tehran, Iran

h i g h l i g h t s

The cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures declines by adding RAP at 0 °C and 15 °C.

Glass fibers are beneficial for enhancing the cracking resistance of asphalt mixtures.

The positive effect of glass fibers can compensate for the adverse impact of RAP material.

The use of RAP material improves cracking performance at 15 °C.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Escalating the price of asphalt binder and environmental issues have led to an increasing desire to use
Received 12 April 2019 high amounts of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) material in asphalt mixtures. However, increasing
Received in revised form 20 August 2019 the RAP content may have negative effects on some characteristics of asphalt mixtures, such as cracking
Accepted 15 September 2019
resistance. Therefore, finding an approach to compensate for the negative impacts of RAP material may be
considered as a solution to raise the RAP content in asphalt mixtures. Fibers are known as one of the mod-
ifiers that are added directly to the mixtures and enhance the cracking resistance of asphaltic materials.
Keywords:
Therefore, in this study, the cracking behavior of asphalt mixtures containing different percentages of
Cracking behavior
SCB fracture test
RAP material in combination with glass fibers was investigated using the semi-circular bending (SCB)
100% RAP mixtures fracture tests at temperatures of 15, 0 and 15 °C. The results showed that using up to 0.12% glass fiber
Reclaimed asphalt pavement leads to a significant enhancement in resistance of all mixtures against crack initiation and propagation.
Recycled asphalt Moreover, it was found that the negative impact of RAP material on the crack resistance of asphalt mix-
tures is reversible to a great extent using 0.12% glass fiber, and 100% RAP mixtures are applicable without
any significant reduction in crack resistance.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction in asphalt mixtures such as a reduction in cracking resistance and

The huge use of aggregates as a raw material in asphalt pave-
ments has depleted the rock and aggregate resources [1]. Further-
more, the high price of asphalt binder has caused financial
problems in asphalt production. Reusing of reclaimed asphalt
pavement (RAP) in new asphalt mixtures can be an approach to
reduce the usage of valuable aggregates and expensive binder
[2–5]. Less aggregate extraction, transportation, and processing
operations can also be mentioned as other advantages of recycling
RAP material [6]. Despite aforementioned benefits, there are some
problems associated with the use of high contents of RAP material
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mrm_aliha@iust.ac.ir (M.R.M. Aliha).
poor low-temperature performance due to the brittleness of its
aged binder [7–9]. For this reason, most agencies do not allow high
contents of RAP material in newly produces asphalt mixtures
[10,11]. Shu et al in 2007 investigated the crack resistance of
asphalt mixtures containing up to 30% of RAP material using the
J-integral principles [9]. They showed that the cracking resistance
of asphalt mixtures declines by increasing the amount of RAP
material. The fracture resistance of asphalt mixtures containing
different percentages of RAP and recycled asphalt shingles (RAS)
material was evaluated using the fracture energy approach on
semi-circular bending (SCB) specimens at temperatures of 12 °C
and 25 °C [12]. It was found that the fracture energy of asphalt
mixtures at both temperatures significantly declined when 40%
of RAP material was used. Zhou et al (2017) investigated the frac-

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117015
0950-0618/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015

ture energy of asphalt mixtures with up to 50% of RAP material at
intermediate temperatures of 15 °C and 25 °C [13]. The results
approved the previous researches, and the cracking resistance of
asphalt mixtures declined by raising the RAP content.
Therefore, improving the low-temperature performance and
cracking resistance of the RAP mixtures can provide the possibility
to increase the RAP content in asphalt mixtures. There have been
some attempts to compensate for the weakness of recycled mix-
tures against cracking. Different types of rejuvenators and modi-
Cyclogen as rejuvenator were reinforced with different percent-
ages of glass fiber (0.06%, 0.12%, and 0.18% by weight of total mix-
ture), and evaluated in terms of cracking performance using the J
integral procedure at temperatures of 15, 0 and 15 °C. The results
were compared to the results of mixtures without RAP and fiber as
a control mixture.
2. Materials

fiers are introduced to enhance the cracking performance of

recycled asphalt mixtures [14–18]. Zaumanis et al. (2014) com-
pared the performance of six different rejuvenators in modifying
the RAP aged binder. It was indicated that the performance grade
of aged binder can be completely restored using waste vegetable
oils, waste vegetable grease and organic oils [19]. However, in
another study, Zaumanis and Mallick showed that the fracture
work of rejuvenated 100% RAP mixtures is significantly lower than
that of the virgin mixture [20]. Kodippily et al. (2016) used
styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) as virgin binder modifier in 30%
2.1. Binder
The binder used in this research was a PG 64-16 grade asphalt binder provided
from Pasargad oil company. Table 1 shows the physical properties of this binder.
2.2. Aggregates
Limestone aggregates were used as raw material for producing the asphalt mix-
tures. The physical characteristics of the aggregates were tested, and the results are
listed in Table 2.

RAP mixtures to make up the adverse impacts of RAP material. It

was indicated that the lost resistance against reflective cracking
is almost recoverable when SBS modified virgin binder is used
[21]. Zhou et al. investigated two kinds of rejuvenators and
styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) latex modified virgin binder in
warm mix asphalt (WMA) containing 50% RAP. They showed that
the 50% RAP mixtures modified with rejuvenator and SBR latex
performed better than the conventional HMA mixtures in terms
of low temperature and fatigue performance [22].
It can be seen in previous researches that using polymer modi-
2.3. Fiber
Glass fibers, which are categorized as High-performance ballistic fibers, are
used in this study as asphalt mixture modifier. These fibers are manufactured of
recycled crushed glasses via pultrusion process as explained by Tam and Bhatnagar
[48]. An example image of glass fiber used in this study is shown in Fig. 1. The prop-
erties of fibers used in this study are summarized in Table 3.
2.4. RAP material and rejuvenator

fied virgin binders in combination with rejuvenators can restore The RAP material used in this study was obtained from the milling operation of
the performance of recycled asphalt mixtures. However, as the a freeway in Tehran. The binder content and gradation of the RAP material were
content of virgin binder decreases by increasing the RAP content, determined after extracting its binder according to ASTM D2172 [49]. This proce-
using polymer modified binders cannot be efficient for mixtures dure was carried out once for fine aggregates (passing sieve No 8) and once for
the retained material on 2.36, 4.75, 12.5 and 19 mm sieves. The results, which were
containing high contents of RAP material and specifically, 100%
then used for gradation of the total mixture, are listed in Table 4.
RAP mixtures. Moreover, polymer modified binders are not appli- Cyclogen, which is categorized as aromatic extracts [6,50], was used in this
cable when the hot in-place recycling method is employed. There- study as the rejuvenator. The physical properties of this rejuvenator are provided
fore, finding an alternative modifier which is added directly to the in Table 5. The aged binder of RAP material was recovered using the rotary evapo-
mixture can be a more proper solution to compensate for the neg- rator according to ASTM D5404-17 [51]. The optimum amount of rejuvenator was
calculated as 6% of aged binder regarding the performance grade of the rejuvenated
ative impact of the aged binder of RAP material on middle and low-
binder for both rejuvenators. For this purpose, the binder of the RAP material was
temperature performance of asphalt mixture. Fibers are a kind of recovered using ASTM D5404. Then different percentages of rejuvenator were
modifier that is added directly to the mixture and improve the added to the recovered binder until the lower grade reached the lower grade of
resistance of asphalt mixtures against cracking and fatigue [23– the virgin binder [35,52]. In this research, the PG grade of the recovered RAP binder
was PG 82-10, which was upgraded to PG 70-16 by adding the rejuvenator.
29]. Glass fibers have shown a good potential to improve the rut-
ting and cracking performance of asphalt mixtures [30–32].
Improved healing capability and higher rutting, moisture and fati-
3. Methodology
gue resistance are also reported as benefits of glass fibers in asphalt
mixtures [33].
This research consists of three main stages. At first, the opti-
Fatigue and cracking are of the most prevalent asphalt layer
mum binder content (OBC) of each mixture was determined using
defects especially in areas with cold and harsh weather [34–36].
the Marshall procedure based on AASHTO T245 [53]. Afterward,
Initiation and propagation of cracks through the asphalt overlays
cylindrical specimens with a diameter of 150 mm containing dif-
are related to traffic loading, thermal stresses and temperature gra-
ferent percentages of RAP (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100%) and glass fiber
dient [37–39]. Fracture mechanics is one of the techniques for eval-
(0, 0.06%, 0.12%, and 0.18% by weight of total mixture) were pro-
uating the crack resistance of asphalt mixtures [40–44]. The semi-
duced and cut to SCB specimens. Then, the SCB fracture tests at
circular bending (SCB) fracture test is known as a popular method
15, 0 and 15 °C were conducted to evaluate the cracking resis-
for evaluating fracture performance of asphalt mixtures due to the
tance of the mixtures.
convenience in sample preparation and its reliable results
[36,38,44–47]. Cracking is more probable at low temperatures
due to the brittleness of the binders and mixtures [38]. Since the Table 1
use of RAP material increases the brittleness of asphalt mixtures, Physical properties of asphalt binder.
the cracking behavior of the mixtures containing high contents of Test Unit Standard PG 64-16
RAP material is questionable.
Viscosity test at 135 °C (cSt) centistokes ASTM D113 364
The main objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of Penetration test (0.1 mm) 0.1 mm ASTM D5 66
glass fiber reinforcement on cracking resistance of recycled asphalt Ductility test (cm) cm ASTM D113 100
mixtures and the optimum fiber content in asphalt mixtures con- Softening point (°C) °C ASTM D36 49
taining different percentages of RAP material. For this purpose, Flash point (°C) °C ASTM D92 290
Specific gravity g/cm3 ASTM D70 1.018
asphalt mixtures containing 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% RAP and
 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015 3

Table 2
Physical properties of the limestone aggregates used in this research.
Test
Coarse aggregate specific gravity
Fine aggregate specific gravity
Los Angeles abrasion value (LAV)
Sodium sulfate soundness (SS)
Sand equivalent (SE)
Flakiness
venator was added directly to the RAP material and mixed
together. The rejuvenated RAP material was then mixed with vir-
Unit Standard Result gin aggregates and fibers, which were gradually added to the
g/cm 3
ASTM C127 2.57 mix. Afterward, the virgin binder was added to the mixture and
g/cm3 ASTM C128 2.54 intermixed. The total mixtures were then placed in compaction
% ASTM C131 22.2 temperature for two hours [6]. The prepared mixtures were then
% ASTM C88 2.7 placed in superpave gyratory compactor (SGC) with 150 mm diam-
% ASTM T176 65
% BS-812 16.63
eter mold and compacted until reaching the target air void of 7%
using the theoretical maximum specific gravity and the desirable
bulk specific gravity [35,55–57]. The compacted cylindrical speci-
mens were cut to SCB specimens according to ASTM D 8044 [58].
Artificial notches with 0.3 mm width and lengths of 25 mm,
32 mm and 38 mm were then created in the middle of SCB speci-
mens. The schematic details of preparing SCB samples from cylin-
drical specimens are shown in Fig. 2.

3.2. SCB fracture tests

For conducting the SCB fracture tests, at first, all SCB samples
were placed at target temperature at least for 8 h. A tension-
compression test machine with a fixture with a support distance
of 127 mm was then used to apply monotonic load with a rate of
0.5 mm/min as shown in Fig. 3. All tests were conducted under
mode I condition on SCB specimens with three notch lengths at
Fig. 1. Glass fiber used in this research.
temperatures of 15, 0 and 15 °C in accordance with ASTM
D8044. Four replicates were conducted for each notch depth, and
Table 3 the fracture energy before and after the peak load and critical value
Mechanical and physical properties of the glass fiber used in this study. of J integral (Jc) were determined for each mixture.
Feature Unit Glass fiber
3.2.1. Crack resistance criteria
Color – White
The mode I fracture toughness (KIC) is defined as the fracture
Specific gravity g/cm3 1.18
Length mm 12 resistance criterion of asphalt mixtures at minus temperatures, at
Diameter mm <0.13 which the elastic behavior is dominant in asphalt mixture, and
Tensile strength MPa >1000 the linear elastic fracture conditions are met [40,59]. This parame-
Melting point °C 800–900 ter was calculated using Eq. (1) for the specimens having 25 mm
Water absorption % 0
notch depth tested at 15 °C.

3.1. Mix design and sample preparation

Table 5
The first stage of the mix design was aggregate gradation. All
The physical characteristics of the rejuvenator used in this
mixtures were graded based on the mid-curve of the recommenda- study.
tion of ASTM D3515 [54] with a nominal maximum aggregate size
Rejuvenator property Rejuvenator
of 19 mm. The information in Table 4 was used to keep the aggre-
gate gradations of each mixture similar to each other. After the Base Oil
Physical state at room temperature Liquid
Marshall procedure had been carried out, the optimum amounts
Color Black
of virgin binder required for the mixtures containing 0%, 25%, Odor No
50%, 75% and 100% RAP material was determined as 5.4%, 3.93%, Water solubility No
2.55%, 1.23% and 0.33% by weight of total mixture respectively. Viscosity at 135 °C (s) 10
For preparing the specimens, virgin aggregates and RAP mate- Flash point (°C) 218
Specific gravity (g/cm3) 0.973
rial was kept at 175 °C for 16 and 2 h respectively. Next, the reju-

Table 4
Binder content and gradation of sieved RAP material.

Sieve size Passing percentage

(mm)
RAP RAP retained on 19 mm RAP retained on 12.5 mm RAP retained on 4.75 mm RAP retained on 2.36 mm RAP Passing through
sieve sieve sieve sieve 2.36 mm sieve
19 100 4.8 100 100 100 100
12.5 98.2 4.8 6.2 100 100 100
4.75 69.3 4.8 6.2 7.1 100 100
2.36 47.2 4.8 6.2 7.1 9.7 100
0.3 15.8 3.7 4 4.6 5.3 26.1
0.075 6 2.9 3.5 2.7 3.1 7.2
Binder content 5.4 5.2 5.2 5.4 5.6 6
(%)
4 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015
Fig. 2. Schematic details of preparing SCB samples from cylindrical specimens.
Fig. 3. The fixture of mode I fracture test of semi-circular asphalt mixture
specimen.
F cr pffiffiffiffiffiffi
K Ic ¼ Y I pa
2Rt
where Fcr is the peak load of the test (kN). R and t are the radius and
thickness of the specimen (m) respectively, a is the notch depth (m)
and Y is the shape factor, which was determined for different SCB
specimens using finite element analysis by Ayatollahi and Aliha
(2007) [60].
The fracture energies before and after failure, which are also
named as stored fracture energy and residual fracture energy, are
also known as criteria for investigating the resistance of materials
against crack initiation and propagation respectively [61–64]. The
stored and residual fracture energies are calculated as the area
under the load-displacement curve before and after the peak load
respectively as shown in Fig. 4. In this study, the aforementioned
fracture energies were calculated for the specimens having
25 mm notch length and used as parameters of criteria for resis-
tance against crack initiation and propagation.
The J-integral, a well-known method for determining the crack
resistance of asphaltic material [65–68], calculates the strain
energy release rate for a crack in a body under monotonic loading
Fig. 4. Typical load-displacement curve and the schematic view of the fracture
energies until and after failure.
to describe the nonlinear fracture performance of material [43,69–
71]. The critical value of J-integral is also utilized as a criterion of
crack resistance [42,72]. For calculating the value of Jc, the fracture
ð1Þ
energy until failure was calculated for each notch depth as the area
under the load–displacement curves. A linear regression was then
fitted on the fracture energy versus notch depths as shown in
Fig. 5. The slope of the fitted line is then divided by the specimen
thickness to calculate the value of Jc using Eq. (2).
1 dU
Jc ¼  ð2Þ
b da
4. Results and discussion
4.1. SCB fracture test at 15 °C
The results of SCB fracture tests conducted at 15 °C are illus-
trated in Figs. 6–8. Fig. 6 shows the fracture energy until the peak
load of SCB specimens with 25 mm notch length. As illustrated at
the charts of virgin mixtures, the fracture energy until failure
improves by almost 70% by increasing the amount of glass fiber
to 0.12%. Adding more fibers has an adverse impact on the cracking
 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015
Fig. 5. Linear regression of fracture energy versus notch depth.
Fig. 6. The results of fracture energy until failure at 15 °C for the specimens with
25 mm notch length.
Fig. 7. The results of Jc at temperature of 15 °C.
performance of the mixtures, which can be attributed to fiber
agglomeration when an excessive amount of fiber is used. The
overall trend shows that the fracture energy until failure increases
by increasing the amount of RAP material in the mixtures. The rea-
son is that at the temperature of 15 °C, the behavior of the mix-
tures is elastic and brittle, and the amounts of displacements are
very low. Thus the fracture energy is more influenced by the stress
capacity of the material than the resultant strain. Therefore, in this
temperature, the fracture energy increases only when the load-
5
Fig. 8. Critical stress intensity factors at temperature of 15 °C.
bearing capacity of the material is increased. As the load-bearing
capacity of asphalt mixtures improves by increasing its stiffness
and adding RAP material increases the stiffness of the mixtures,
the fracture energy until failure enhances by increasing the per-
centage of RAP material. On the other hand, for the mixtures con-
taining 0.06% and 0.12% glass fiber, the fracture energies peaked
when 50% of RAP was used and then they leveled out by raising
the RAP content, nevertheless, they were still much higher than
that of the control mix. It is also shown that the fracture energies
of all mixtures were improved by adding up to 0.12% fiber in the
mixtures, which was occurred mainly due to the increase in stiff-
ness of the material. The results of 0.18% fiber reinforced mixtures
did not follow a specific trend, which could be due to the agglom-
eration of fibers. It should be noted that the fracture energies after
the peak load, which is the criterion for resistance against crack
propagation [43,62,73], were near to zero for all specimens at this
temperature. The results of Jc values at 15 °C are presented in bar
charts of Fig. 7. The Jc values follow the same trend as the results of
fracture energy. It is also observed that the fibers are more effective
in improving the Jc value than the fracture energy until failure. The
results of critical stress intensity factors, which are shown in Fig. 8,
agree with the results of Jc and fracture energy, and the values of
KIc increase by increasing the RAP content and adding up to
0.12% fiber in the mixtures.
4.2. SCB fracture tests at 0 °C
The results of Jc value and fracture energy until failure are pre-
sented in Figs. 9 and 10. At first glance at the charts it is apparent
that unlike the results of the tests at 15 °C, the crack resistance of
the mixtures declined by increasing the amount of RAP material at
0 °C. The reason is that in this temperature the fracture energy is a
function of both load-bearing capacity and displacement. By add-
ing RAP material the resulted displacement at the time of failure
decreases substantially, and the increase in the peak load cannot
compensate for the reduction in displacement. As a result, the frac-
ture energy until failure declines by increasing the RAP content at
this temperature. The fracture resistance of all mixtures increases
by adding up to 0.12% glass fiber. The reason is that when asphalt
mixtures are reinforced by high strength glass fibers, the fibers per-
form as a bridge on the cracks and prevent them from propagation.
Moreover, adding fibers in the mixtures results in better coherence
between the mastic and aggregates, which subsequently leads to
less stress concentration and better performance [74]. However,
the excessive amount of fiber in the mixtures leads to fiber
agglomeration and weakens the performance of the mixtures. In
this research, adding up to 0.12% fiber improved the cracking per-
formance of the mixtures, and increasing the fiber content from
6 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015
Fig. 9. The results of fracture energy until failure at 0 °C for the specimens with
25 mm notch length.
Fig. 10. The results of Jc at temperature of 0 °C.
0.12% to 0.18% led to a substantial decrease in the cracking resis-
tance of the all studied mixtures. It can also be inferred from Figs. 9
and 10 that the glass fibers can completely compensate for the
adverse impact of RAP material on cracking behavior of the mix-
tures at 0 °C, and the 100% RAP mixtures with 0.12% glass fiber
have higher fracture energy and critical J integral than the control
mix.
The results of fracture energy after failure at 0 °C are shown in
Fig. 11. It is seen that at this temperature the fracture energy after
failure increases dramatically when up to 0.12% of glass fiber is
added to the mixture. It can also be inferred from the results of
Figs. 9 and 11 that the fibers are more effective in enhancing the
fracture energy after failure than before failure. In other words,
fibers have a greater impact on enhancing the resistance of the
mixtures against crack propagation than crack initiation. It can also
be observed that the impact of fibers diminishes by increasing the
amount of RAP material. However, the resistance of 0.12% fiber
reinforced mixtures containing up to 75% RAP against crack prop-
agation is still higher than that of the control mixture. The 100%
RAP mixtures containing 0.12% glass fiber are slightly weaker than
the control mix in terms of crack propagation resistance at 0 °C.
4.3. SCB fracture tests at 15 °C
The results of fracture energy until failure and Jc value at 15 °C,
which are depicted in bar charts of Figs. 12 and 13 respectively,
approve the results of the tests at 0 °C. In most mixtures, the opti-
Fig. 11. The results of fracture energy after failure at 0 °C for the specimens with
25 mm notch length.
Fig. 12. The results of fracture energy until failure at 15 °C for the specimens with
25 mm notch length.
mum content of glass fiber is 0.12%, and RAP material has an
adverse effect on cracking performance of the mixtures at the tem-
perature of 15 °C, which can be considerably compensated using
glass fibers as an additive in the mixtures. It is also noteworthy
that the Jc value of the 100% RAP mixtures is lower than the allow-
able threshold of ASTM D8044 [58], which is 0.5 Kj/m2. This short-
coming can be made up using 0.12% fiber to a fair extent, and the Jc
value of 100% RAP mixtures reinforced with 0.12% glass fiber is
only 12% lower than that of the control mixture.
The results of fracture energy after failure at 15 °C are also
shown in Fig. 14. It is apparent at the bar charts that fibers have
a considerable effect on the crack propagation parameter of the
mixtures, and the crack propagation resistances of all mixtures
have almost tripled when 0.12% glass fiber is used. The results
are in agreement with the results at 0 °C and follow the same
trend.
4.4. The effect of temperature
The effect of temperature on the fracture energy and the critical
J integral is presented at Fig. 15. As shown, the crack resistance of
asphalt mixtures increases when the temperature rises from
15 °C to 0 °C. Afterward, increasing the temperature leads to a
decrease in the crack resistance of asphalt mixtures. The purpose
 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015 7

5. Crack resistance prediction models

In this research, a multiple regression model was developed for

predicting the fracture energy and the critical J integral of asphalt
mixtures in terms of temperature, RAP content and fiber content
using the experimental test results of this study. The model was
established by adopting maximum response design using Minitab
18 by combining three parameters for total 240 test data, which
are presented as Eqs. (3) and (4).

Fracture energy until failure ¼ 3:609  0:00985X1

þ 30:24X2 þ 0:0653X3
 150:4X22  0:006492X32
 0:000932X1  X3

Fig. 13. The results of Jc at temperature of 15 °C.

 0:1988X2  X3 ð3Þ

Jc ¼ 2:926  0:01031X1 þ 28:77X2 þ 0:0549X3  137:3X22

 0:00577X32  0:001234X1  X3 ð4Þ

where X1 is the RAP content (%), X2 is the glass fiber content (%) and
X3 is the temperature (°C).
The R2 values, which represent the statistical correlation
between the fit line and experimental data, for fracture energy
until failure and Jc value are 72.71% and 63.06% respectively. The
probability values (P-value), the probability that, when the null
hypothesis is true, were under 0.001% for both models, which show
the significance of the differences between the results. The effects
of each variable on the model responses and the normal probabil-

Fig. 14. The results of fracture energy after failure at 15 °C for the specimens with
25 mm notch length.

is that as mentioned previously, the fracture energy is a function of

load-bearing capacity and the resultant displacement. At minus
temperatures, the load-bearing capacity is high, and the displace-
ments are very low. By increasing the temperature, the peak load
declines and the displacement increases. As shown in Fig. 16, at
the temperature of 0 °C, the positive effect of displacement
increase predominates the negative impact of peak load decrease,
Fig. 16. Typical load–displacement curves of the asphalt mixtures tested at
and the fracture energy becomes maximum.
temperatures of 15, 0 and 15 °C.

Fig. 15. The effect of temperature on fracture energy and Jc of studied mixtures.
8 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015

(a) Fracture energy until failure

(b) R2 = 72.71%

Fig. 17. The plots of (a) trend of changing of the fracture energy until failure against the studied variables, (b) normal probability plot of the prediction model for Fracture
energy until failure.

(a)
Jc (kj/m2)

R2 = 63.06%

Fig. 18. The plots of (a) trend of changing of the fracture energy until failure against the studied variables, (b) Normal probability plot of the prediction model for Jc value.

ity plots of the prediction models are represented at Figs. 17 and
18. It can be seen that the models can properly predict the trend
of changes. It is also shown that the maximum crack resistance
occurs at a temperature between 0 °C and 10 °C when the percent-
ages of RAP and fiber are 0% and 0.1% respectively. According to the
levels of correlations of the models presented in Figs. 17 and 18,
the multiple regression models have a fair correlation with the
experimental test results. This is mainly owing to the existence
of few points that have large residuals and do not fit by the equa-
tions, which have a strong adverse influence on the level of corre-
lations and are shown in normal probability plot of the prediction
models. Other techniques such as the artificial neural network
 H. Ziari et al. / Construction and Building Materials 230 (2020) 117015
(ANN) and Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) can also
be alternatives to predict the data with a better level of correlation
[75].
6. Conclusion
In this study, glass fibers were used as a modifier in asphalt
mixtures containing high contents of RAP material to compensate
for the adverse effect of RAP material on cracking performance of
the mixtures. For this purpose, different percentages of glass fibers
were used as an additive in the asphalt mixtures containing differ-
ent percentages of RAP material, and the SCB fracture tests were
conducted at temperatures of 15, 0 and 15 °C. The results indi-
cated that the positive effect of glass fibers on cracking perfor-
mance of the recycled mixtures can compensate for the adverse
impact of RAP material on the cracking behavior of the recycled
mixtures, and the fracture energy of fiber-reinforced recycled mix-
tures was eider better than or similar to that of the control mix in
most cases. However, more investigations about other aspects of
the fiber-reinforced recycled asphalt mixtures such as fatigue
and mode II fracture performance are needed in future studies.
Other tentative conclusions are listed as follows:

From the fracture test results of virgin asphalt mixtures, using
up to 0.12% of glass fiber resulted in a significant improvement
in the crack resistance of asphalt mixtures. Adding more fibers
declined the cracking performance of the mixtures. However,
the mixtures containing 0.18% fiber still performed better than
the control mixture in terms of crack resistance.

At the temperature of 15 °C, the fracture performance
improved by increasing the RAP content and glass fibers due
to the increase in stiffness of the mixtures.

At temperatures of 0 and 15 °C, the crack resistance of the mix-
tures reduced by increasing the RAP content. The decline was
reversible to a great extent when 0.12% of glass fiber was used
as an additive in the mixtures.

The fracture energy of the SCB specimens with 25 mm notch
lengths was in a fair agreement with the Jc results at all
temperatures.

A regression model with a fair level of correlation was fitted on
the results of fracture energy until failure and Jc values.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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