Performance and Cost Effectiveness of Sustainable Technologies in Flexible Pavements using the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide

摘要

In recent years, an increase in construction prices coupled with a global change forimproved ecological stewardship led to the development of several sustainabletechnologies for asphalt pavements. Past research evaluated the mechanistic properties,economic benefits, and ecological impacts of these mixtures. However, questions remainconcerning the effects of these technologies on structural pavement design andperformance. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of selectedsustainable technologies on the predicted performance from the Mechanistic-EmpiricalPavement Design Guide (MEPDG) and to assess the life cycle costs of pavementstructures constructed with these sustainable alternatives. In addition, this studyevaluated if the MEPDG software is sensitive to variation in the mechanistic properties ofasphalt mixtures containing selected sustainable technologies. To achieve this objective,three typical pavement structures were analyzed at three traffic levels (low, medium, andhigh). The effects of warm-mix asphalt (WMA), reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP),crumb rubber (CRM), and Shell Thiopave~® were evaluated. Based on the results of theanalysis, it was determined that the MEPDG was able to distinguish between differentsustainable technologies in terms of performance. In addition, results indicated thatsustainable technologies have the potential to improve pavement performance, reduceproduction and life cycle costs when compared to conventional asphalt mixtures.