Laboratory investigation of portland cement concrete containing recycled asphalt pavements

Recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) is the removed and/or reprocessed pavement material containing asphalt and aggregate. The use of RAP in asphalt pavement has become a common practice in the construction of new, and reconstruction of old, hot mix asphalt (HMA) pavements. But little research has been done to examine the potential of incorporating RAP into concrete. Since RAP contains asphalt, it is very likely that the toughness of concrete made with RAP could be improved. In the present study, the mechanical properties of RAP-incorporated Portland cement concrete were investigated through laboratory experiments. Two types of RAP (coarse and fine RAP) materials were considered. The results from this study indicated that RAP could be incorporated into Portland cement concrete without any modification to the conventional equipment or procedures. Without any treatment, there was a systematic reduction in the compressive and split tensile strengths with the incorporation RAP in concrete. Notably, the energy absorbing toughness for the RAP incorporated concrete has been significantly improved.