The Center for Intelligent Infrastructure (CII) will host a distinguished lecture series, "Diffusion and Uniformity of Recycled Asphalt in Pavements," featuring Dr. Baoshan Huang, Edwin G. Burdette Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville on Wednesday, December 4 from 2:30-3:30 p.m. in 121 Butler-Carlton Hall.  Participants are encouraged to attend in person and may also attend via zoom https://mst.zoom.us/j/195466080?pwd=cUJmNmlPZ3JnN0o1U3NnN0cvSjlMZz09 

Diffusion and Uniformity of Recycled Asphalt in Pavements

Asphalt pavements covers over 93 percent of the paved roads in the United States. The use of recycled asphalt into pavement maintenance and construction has been a common practice. However the lack of understanding of the interaction between recycled and virgin asphalt poses a change on the efficient use of recycled asphalt, and often causes pavement premature failures. The present study addressed some fundamental aspects associated with the beneficial use of recycled asphalt into asphalt paving mixtures: 1.) how much recycled asphalt can be mobilized into a uniform asphalt coating in the mixture? and 2.) will the mobilized old asphalt co-mingle with virgin asphalt to form a homogeneous material? Analytical chemical procedure and fluorescence microscopy (FM), and molecular dynamics simulation have been utilized for the analyses. The results have provided better understandings on the homogenization process between the recycled and virgin asphalt; thus provide better guidance to efficient use of recycled asphalt pavements.