The ability of an asphalt mix to heal is an important property that influences the overall fatigue performance of the mix in the field. Micro damage healing in an asphalt mix is a function of several factors such as the physical and chemical properties of the binder, properties of the mixture, level of damage prior to the rest period during which healing occurs, duration of the rest period, temperature, and pressure. This thesis presents details from a two-part study that addresses the following aspects. In the first part of this study, a DSR based test method was developed to measure inherent healing in asphalt binder and a modified form of the Avrami equation was used to model it. In the second part of this study, an experimental and analytical method based on viscoelastic continuum damage theory was developed to characterize the healing in an asphalt composite (fine aggregate matrix) as a function of the level of damage prior to the rest period and the duration of the rest period. The intrinsic healing of three different asphalt binders was measured at three different temperatures and two aging conditions and it was further demonstrated to be the sum of two components: instantaneous strength gain immediately upon wetting and time dependent strength gain. The intrinsic healing results obtained from the DSR tests were demonstrated to be in agreement with the hypothesis that time dependent intrinsic healing increases with an increase in temperature and decreases with aging of the asphalt binder. The overall healing was measured in four different fine aggregate matrix (FAM) asphalt mixes and various tests were performed to quantify overall healing at isothermal and short term aged test conditions. Additionally two different verification tests were also conducted to demonstrate that the percentage healing measured using the proposed method are independent of the sequence of loading or rest periods. Finally, the overall healing results were demonstrated to support the hypothesis that the healing characteristics determined using the proposed test method can be treated as a characteristic material property. / text

The incorporation of recycled asphalt pavements (RAP) in the production of new asphalt mixtures is a useful alternative to the use of virgin materials, leading to economic and environmental savings. Pavement recycling created a sustainable cycle of reuse of nonrenewable natural resources, reducing the demand for new mineral aggregate and binder. However, the addition of RAP, especially at higher percentages, increases the stiffness of the asphalt mixture, because of the high stiffness of the aged binder. High stiffness makes the asphalt mixtures more prone to fatigue cracking. In order to overcome such limitation and allow the incorporation of higher percentages of RAP, soften binders or rejuvenating agents are added to the mixture. The former act to reduce the high stiffness of the aged binder and the latter act to restore the aged binder properties to those required by the binder specifications. The shale oil residue is one of the most used rejuvenating agents in Brazil, and, according to the literature, its performance is comparable to other commercial rejuvenating agents, with the advantage of presenting higher rejuvenating potential, what is due to its higher aromaticity. The fatigue cracking process starts as micro cracks in the fine aggregate matrix (FAM) of the full asphalt mixture. One approach to investigate the fatigue process of the asphalt mixtures is based on the viscoelastic continuum damage theory (VECD), in which the process of micro cracking of a material can be represented by internal state variables associated with the reduction of the material integrity. In this study, tests on FAM samples were performed in order to evaluate the fatigue performance, and the results were analyzed by means of the VECD theory. The objective of this research was to evaluate the fatigue performance of FAMs produced with three RAP contents (20, 40 and 100%), two binders of different performance grades (PG 64-22 and PG 58-16), and the combination of new binder (PG 64-22) and rejuvenating agent (shale oil residue) at different binder/agent rates (100/0, 50/50 and 0/100). Out of the FAMs prepared with RAP, two presented fatigue performance superior to the control mixture (compounded with only new materials): the FAM prepared with 40% of RAP and PG 64-22 and the FAM prepared with 20% of RAP and PG 58-16. The shale oil residue did not play its role of rejuvenating the aged binder for most cases, probably because of the low diffusion rate of the material into the aged binder. / A incorporação de misturas asfálticas fresadas na produção de misturas asfálticas novas é uma alternativa útil à utilização de materiais novos, gerando benefícios econômicos e ambientais. A reciclagem de pavimentos criou um ciclo sustentável de reuso de recursos naturais não-renováveis, reduzindo a demanda por agregado mineral e asfalto novos. No entanto, a adição do material fresado, especialmente em proporções altas, provoca aumento na rigidez da mistura asfáltica, causado pela alta rigidez do asfalto envelhecido. Uma elevada rigidez pode tornar a mistura asfáltica mais propensa ao trincamento por fadiga. Para contornar tal desvantagem e permitir a adição de maiores quantidades de material fresado, asfaltos de baixa consistência e agentes de rejuvenescimento podem ser adicionados à mistura. Os asfaltos de baixa consistência atuam para reduzir a rigidez do asfalto envelhecido e os agentes de rejuvenescimento atuam para restaurar as propriedades originais do asfalto envelhecido, aproximando-as das exigidas pelas especificações para asfaltos virgens. O resíduo de óleo de xisto é um dos agentes rejuvenescedores mais utilizados no Brasil e, segundo a literatura, resulta em desempenho comparável ao desempenho de outros agentes rejuvenescedores comerciais, com a vantagem de apresentar maior poder de rejuvenescimento devido à sua maior aromaticidade. O processo de trincamento por fadiga principia nas microtrincas presentes na matriz de agregado fino (MAF) da mistura asfáltica. Uma abordagem para avaliar o comportamento à fadiga das misturas asfálticas é baseada na teoria do dano contínuo em meio viscoelástico, pela qual o processo de trincamento do material é representado por variáveis de estado interno associadas à redução na integridade do material. Neste estudo, ensaios em amostras de MAF foram feitos para caracterizar o desempenho à fadiga, e os dados foram analisados utilizando a teoria do dano contínuo em meio viscoelástico. O objetivo da pesquisa foi avaliar o desempenho à fadiga de MAFs produzidas com três proporções de material fresado (20, 40 e 100%), dois asfaltos com diferentes graus de desempenho (PG 64-22 e PG 58-16), e três combinações (100/0, 50/50, 0/100) de asfalto PG 64-22 e agente de rejuvenescimento (resíduo de óleo de xisto). Dentre as MAFs preparadas com material fresado, duas apresentaram desempenho à fadiga superior à mistura de controle (composta apenas com materiais novos): a MAF composta com 40% de material fresado e PG 64-22 e a MAF composta com 20% de material fresado e PG 58-16. O resíduo de óleo de xisto não atuou como rejuvenescedor do asfalto envelhecido, para a maioria dos casos avaliados, provavelmente devido à baixa taxa de difusão do material no asfalto envelhecido.

The incorporation of recycled asphalt pavements (RAP) in the production of new asphalt mixtures is a useful alternative to the use of virgin materials, leading to economic and environmental savings. Pavement recycling created a sustainable cycle of reuse of nonrenewable natural resources, reducing the demand for new mineral aggregate and binder. However, the addition of RAP, especially at higher percentages, increases the stiffness of the asphalt mixture, because of the high stiffness of the aged binder. High stiffness makes the asphalt mixtures more prone to fatigue cracking. In order to overcome such limitation and allow the incorporation of higher percentages of RAP, soften binders or rejuvenating agents are added to the mixture. The former act to reduce the high stiffness of the aged binder and the latter act to restore the aged binder properties to those required by the binder specifications. The shale oil residue is one of the most used rejuvenating agents in Brazil, and, according to the literature, its performance is comparable to other commercial rejuvenating agents, with the advantage of presenting higher rejuvenating potential, what is due to its higher aromaticity. The fatigue cracking process starts as micro cracks in the fine aggregate matrix (FAM) of the full asphalt mixture. One approach to investigate the fatigue process of the asphalt mixtures is based on the viscoelastic continuum damage theory (VECD), in which the process of micro cracking of a material can be represented by internal state variables associated with the reduction of the material integrity. In this study, tests on FAM samples were performed in order to evaluate the fatigue performance, and the results were analyzed by means of the VECD theory. The objective of this research was to evaluate the fatigue performance of FAMs produced with three RAP contents (20, 40 and 100%), two binders of different performance grades (PG 64-22 and PG 58-16), and the combination of new binder (PG 64-22) and rejuvenating agent (shale oil residue) at different binder/agent rates (100/0, 50/50 and 0/100). Out of the FAMs prepared with RAP, two presented fatigue performance superior to the control mixture (compounded with only new materials): the FAM prepared with 40% of RAP and PG 64-22 and the FAM prepared with 20% of RAP and PG 58-16. The shale oil residue did not play its role of rejuvenating the aged binder for most cases, probably because of the low diffusion rate of the material into the aged binder. / A incorporação de misturas asfálticas fresadas na produção de misturas asfálticas novas é uma alternativa útil à utilização de materiais novos, gerando benefícios econômicos e ambientais. A reciclagem de pavimentos criou um ciclo sustentável de reuso de recursos naturais não-renováveis, reduzindo a demanda por agregado mineral e asfalto novos. No entanto, a adição do material fresado, especialmente em proporções altas, provoca aumento na rigidez da mistura asfáltica, causado pela alta rigidez do asfalto envelhecido. Uma elevada rigidez pode tornar a mistura asfáltica mais propensa ao trincamento por fadiga. Para contornar tal desvantagem e permitir a adição de maiores quantidades de material fresado, asfaltos de baixa consistência e agentes de rejuvenescimento podem ser adicionados à mistura. Os asfaltos de baixa consistência atuam para reduzir a rigidez do asfalto envelhecido e os agentes de rejuvenescimento atuam para restaurar as propriedades originais do asfalto envelhecido, aproximando-as das exigidas pelas especificações para asfaltos virgens. O resíduo de óleo de xisto é um dos agentes rejuvenescedores mais utilizados no Brasil e, segundo a literatura, resulta em desempenho comparável ao desempenho de outros agentes rejuvenescedores comerciais, com a vantagem de apresentar maior poder de rejuvenescimento devido à sua maior aromaticidade. O processo de trincamento por fadiga principia nas microtrincas presentes na matriz de agregado fino (MAF) da mistura asfáltica. Uma abordagem para avaliar o comportamento à fadiga das misturas asfálticas é baseada na teoria do dano contínuo em meio viscoelástico, pela qual o processo de trincamento do material é representado por variáveis de estado interno associadas à redução na integridade do material. Neste estudo, ensaios em amostras de MAF foram feitos para caracterizar o desempenho à fadiga, e os dados foram analisados utilizando a teoria do dano contínuo em meio viscoelástico. O objetivo da pesquisa foi avaliar o desempenho à fadiga de MAFs produzidas com três proporções de material fresado (20, 40 e 100%), dois asfaltos com diferentes graus de desempenho (PG 64-22 e PG 58-16), e três combinações (100/0, 50/50, 0/100) de asfalto PG 64-22 e agente de rejuvenescimento (resíduo de óleo de xisto). Dentre as MAFs preparadas com material fresado, duas apresentaram desempenho à fadiga superior à mistura de controle (composta apenas com materiais novos): a MAF composta com 40% de material fresado e PG 64-22 e a MAF composta com 20% de material fresado e PG 58-16. O resíduo de óleo de xisto não atuou como rejuvenescedor do asfalto envelhecido, para a maioria dos casos avaliados, provavelmente devido à baixa taxa de difusão do material no asfalto envelhecido.