Rutting and moisture damage resistance of high reclaimed asphalt pavement warm mixed asphalt: loaded wheel tracking vs. conventional methods

An increased potential for moisture damage and rutting has been the two main problems with warm mixed asphalt (WMA) implementation. The use of high reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) contents (25% or more) in WMA may alleviate these problems. At present, susceptibility to the moisture damage and rutting are usually tested for independently; however, these distress mechanisms can be linked for in-service pavements. An enhanced loaded wheel tracking test performed on dry and wet specimens, the PURWheel, is investigated in this paper to evaluate the interaction of traffic and moisture. The PURWheel is also compared with conventional rutting and moisture damage tests. PURWheel results are used to evaluate the performance of 25% and 50% RAP–WMA. Rutting and moisture susceptibility of the high RAP–WMA was comparable with current practice low RAP content hot mixed asphalt.