Mechanistic Performance and Distress Model of Bottom Ash Modified Porous Asphalt Concretes with Various Thailand Aggregates

Abstract

The porous structure in the porous asphalt concrete (PAC) mixture is achieved by incorporating a substantial amount of coarse aggregate and polymer-modified asphalt binder (PMA). Bottom ash (BA) was used to modify the properties of the conventional asphalt cement for PAC (BA-AC60/70-PAC) with various types of aggregates in Thailand such as basalt (B), granite (G), and limestone (L). With the lipophilic reaction between BA molecular and asphalt cement, the BA replacement results in the higher optimum asphalt cement, which contributes to the improvement of asphalt film thickness. Therefore, the BA replacement was found to have the potential to improve draindown, Marshall stability, resistance to particle loss, strength index, indirect tensile strength, indirect tensile resilient modulus, indirect tensile fatigue life, permanent deformation, rutting resistance, and skid resistance of PAC, which are comparable to those of PAC containing PMA (PMA-PAC) for all studied types of aggregates. Based on the analysis of cyclic test results, the distress model of both BA-AC60/70-PAC and PMA-PAC was developed and found to be unique and may also be applicable to other PMA-PAC with similar aggregates. The outcome of this research will promote the usage of BA by-products to develop a green and economical PAC.