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Advances in Transportation Geotechnics IV pp 425–439Cite as

Discrete Element Simulation of the Internal Structures of Asphalt Mixtures with High Content of Tire Rubber

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Part of the Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering book series (LNCE,volume 164)

Abstract

Increasing rubber content in asphalt mixtures is recognized as a practical approach to consume fast-growing waste tires. The reacted rubber technology using the dry process was developed to address the rubber swelling and poor performance of rubber asphalt mixtures. Although the tire rubber has proved to increase the low-temperature performance, fatigue life, cracking resistance, and rutting resistance of asphalt mixtures, the impacts of high content tire rubber on the mixtures’ internal structures have not been revealed. This study is a preliminary research that utilized the laboratory and numerical simulation approach to investigate the strength, skeleton structures, and stress distribution of the tire rubber asphalt mixtures. The discrete element method (DEM) was employed to establish asphalt mixture models with a high content of tire rubber. New modeling procedures were developed to incorporate coarse aggregate shapes and rubber particles. Indirect tensile strength (ITS) values of specimens with rubber content up to 4.5% by mass were tested in laboratory and simulation. The results from DEM simulation had better consistency than the laboratory results. However, the test results showed that as the rubber content increased, the ITS of asphalt mixtures significantly decreased. Besides, the simulation indicates that the ITS decreased linearly as the percentage air void increased. The specimen ITS value decreased by half as the void ratio reached 15%. Furthermore, the internal structures and stress distribution of specimens with different rubber content were analyzed. The gap gradation proved to have a functional capacity of accommodating fine aggregates and rubber particles, all while forming a coarse aggregate skeleton.

Keywords

  • Asphalt mixtures
  • Reacted and active rubber
  • Dry process
  • Indirect tensile strength
  • Discrete element method
  • Internal structure

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA

    Xiaodong Zhou, Siyu Chen, Dongzhao Jin & Zhanping You

Authors
  1. Xiaodong Zhou
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  2. Siyu Chen
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  3. Dongzhao Jin
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  4. Zhanping You
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhanping You .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Prof. Erol Tutumluer

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX, USA

    Prof. Soheil Nazarian

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Dr. Imad Al-Qadi

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA

    Dr. Issam I.A. Qamhia

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Cite this paper

Zhou, X., Chen, S., Jin, D., You, Z. (2022). Discrete Element Simulation of the Internal Structures of Asphalt Mixtures with High Content of Tire Rubber. In: Tutumluer, E., Nazarian, S., Al-Qadi, I., Qamhia, I.I. (eds) Advances in Transportation Geotechnics IV. Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol 164. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77230-7_32

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77230-7_32

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-77229-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-77230-7

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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