VERIFICATION OF SUSTAINABILITY AND PROFITABILITY IN THE USE OF WASTE FIBRES FOR THE REINFORCEMENT OF ASPHALT MIXTURES
PDC2022-133116-I00
Funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR
Roads are critical for the development of a country by making possible the mobility of its citizens and the transport of commodities, having as a result a tremendous impact on its economic growth and the quality of life of its citizens. Challenges such as climate change or the significant growth of the traffic flow contribute to the damage of the road network, what implies higher maintenance and rehabilitation costs.
Currently, to improve the mechanical performance and durability of the asphalt mixtures bitumen modified with polymers is being used; however, the impossibility to recover the properties of the polymeric net at the end of its useful life limits to a large degree the reuse of asphalt mixture with bitumen modified with polymers, what increases the environmental impact of such mixtures.
The reinforcement of asphalt mixtures with fibres is presented as a feasible and attractive alternative to improve durability and mechanical performance of the mixtures without jeopardising its reuse rates. According to the results of our project ASFIVAL, a higher resistance to damage by water may be achieved together with the double of resistance to plastic deformation by adding waste residues to the bituminous concrete mixtures.
In relation to porous asphalt mixtures, the addition of fibres significantly increases the resistance to particle loss. However, in spite of the promising results obtained in the lab, for this technology to reach the market, the gap between the lab and the performance at real scale must be addressed.
As a result, the project ASFIPLUS, taking into account its nature of Project of Concept Testing, aims to close this gap. Therefore, the general objective of the project is double. On the one hand, to verify that the asphalt mixtures added to the waste fibres extend the roads life respect conventional mixtures and on the other hand, carry out the industrialisation of the technology to identify and overcome the technical barriers that may turn up and boost its transference and use by the final users.
For this purpose, the Circular Road Simulator available in the University of Cantabria will be employed assessing the long-term performance and durability of the asphalt mixtures, comparing them with their competitors in the market.
The new mixtures will be produced in a real asphalt plant and will be implemented in a real pilot section where the possible technical barriers that may arise will be identified and addressed and the short-term performance of the asphalt layer will be assessed.
For this, data of the manufacture and setting up on site will be included and of the increase of the service life of the road.
All these actions are carried out to provide the interested parties with the maximum information about the benefits and competitiveness of the technology in the market.
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