REGULATION OF STRUCTURE FORMATION IN COLD-RECYCLED MIXTURES VIA OPTIMIZATION OF THE DISPERSED PHASE AND AGGREGATE SKELETON
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36773/1818-1112-2026-139-1-3-12Keywords:
cold recycling, Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP), bitumen emulsion, Portland cement, mineral filler, structure formation, elastic modulus, deformability, mixture homogeneityAbstract
In the context of increasing resource conservation and environmental efficiency in road construction, cold recycling is becoming a priority method for pavement rehabilitation. However, the widespread use of Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) is limited by its high heterogeneity and the lack of unified approaches to mix design that would consider the structural role of each component. The aim of this work is to develop principles for regulating structure formation processes in cold mixtures by optimizing the aggregate skeleton and the composition of the dispersed phase.
Within the framework of the study, the physico-mechanical properties of four groups of organic-hydraulic mixtures with a high RAP content were investigated. A combined system based on cationic bitumen emulsion and Portland cement was used as a binder, while activated mineral powder was used as an inert filler.
It was established that the partial replacement of cement with mineral powder leads to a significant improvement in performance characteristics: the indirect tensile strength increases, and the efficiency of hydraulic binder utilization increases by more than two times. The developed mathematical model revealed the non-linear nature of the dependence of the elastic modulus on the filler content and allowed determining the point of structural optimum. It is proven that a mechanical increase in the RAP proportion with an excess of binder mastic leads to a particle push-apart effect and a critical reduction in strength due to the disruption of contacts in the mineral skeleton. This justifies the necessity of applying a comprehensive approach to mix design that considers the volumetric parameters of the skeleton.
The introduced criteria for evaluating deformability and homogeneity allowed identifying a contradiction between the strength, elasticity, and technological reliability of the mixtures. The results justify the necessity of transitioning to a multi-criteria mix design approach to ensure a balance between the stiffness of the mineral skeleton and the relaxation capacity of the binder matrix.
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