Published Paper Details:

A well-developed road network is vital for swift economic growth as it links remote areas, provides access to markets, schools, and hospitals, and promotes trade and investment in underdeveloped regions. Roads facilitate inter-modal transport, connecting airports, railway stations, and ports. India's road network spans approximately 4.2 million kilometers, making it the second-largest in the world after the United States. This extensive network handles around 65% of freight traffic and 87% of passenger traffic. National Highways (NH), covering about 70,934 kilometers or just 2% of the total network, carry nearly 40% of the road traffic. State Highways (SH) and Major District Roads (MDR) make up the secondary road transport system, playing a significant role in the rural economy and industrial growth of the country. The traditional method of applying bituminous surfacing on flexible pavements requires a substantial amount of energy, as it involves producing bituminous binder from crude petroleum, drying aggregates, and producing the bituminous mix at a hot mix plant (HMP). Hot mix recycling involves combining reclaimed asphalt pavement materials with new materials, often along with a recycling agent, to create hot mix asphalt mixtures. Properly designed recycled mixtures can perform as well as or better than new conventional hot mix asphalt mixtures. Recycling or rejuvenating agents are organic materials with chemical and physical characteristics chosen to restore aged asphalt properties to desired specifications. The viscosity characteristics of the combined aged asphalt binder and recycling agent determine the choice of recycling agent, which can also be called softening agents, reclaiming agents, modifiers, fluxing oils, extender oils, and aromatic oils. The grade of Recycling Agent (RA) used depends on the amount and hardness of the asphalt in the aged pavement. Lower viscosity RA types can restore aged asphalts with high viscosity, and vice versa. Laboratory studies on asphalt mixes with RAP material and rejuvenating agents compared their performance to virgin asphalt mixes. Various performance tests, including Retained Stability, Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS), Creep test, beam fatigue test, resilient modulus, and wheel tracking test, have been conducted to compare the performance properties. This paper presents the results of these performance tests on asphalt mixes with RAP and virgin mixes. Laboratory results indicate that asphalt mixes with RAP and rejuvenating agents provide better performance compared to virgin mixes. The paper also recommends using the Accelerated Pavement Testing Facility (APTF) to evaluate the actual field performance of recycled pavements more quickly and effectively.