Quantifying the Impacts of Warm Mix Asphalt on Constructability and Performance

Joint efforts by the federal government and HMA industry to minimize cost and the environmental impacts of asphalt pavement construction have resulted in development of warm mix asphalt (WMA). This technology has gained such interest due to the potential to deliver pavements at lower temperatures, allowing for reduced energy consumption and emissions. In order to be effective WMA must meet the specified values of in-place density at reduced temperatures during construction and demonstrate sufficient resistance to pavement distresses while in-service. The overall objective of this research was to promote effective use of WMA through development of a procedure to recommend additive specific mixing and compaction temperature ranges that will provide adequate workability during construction, and an acceptable level of in-service performance. To pursue this objective an experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of various WMA technologies on the workability and performance properties of asphalt binders and mixtures using existing standards and new test methods developed during the study. The new test methods were pursued to better define the role of asphalt binder as a lubricant during compaction and to properly account for the effects of reduced production temperatures on asphalt binder performance and potential for moisture damage. Results found that use of WMA impacts both construction and performance properties. To account for these factors an evaluation framework to select appropriate production temperatures for WMA was introduced that is based on evaluation of mixture volumetrics, compactability, resistance to moisture damage, and rutting performance. Furthermore, to facilitate the mixture design and temperature selection process surrogate test methods to evaluate workability and performance properties of the asphalt binder as well as the integrity of the bond at the asphalt/binder aggregate interface were proposed and verified through relationships with mixture performance.