ABSTRACT
A short service life of bituminous road pavements can counteract the environmental gain of using reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) instead of virgin raw materials. Numerous case-related laboratory researches investigated the influence of RAP on mechanical performances of asphalt mixtures. In the scope of life cycle environmental assessment it is essential to know the performances of asphalt mixtures that are used on the road in practice. Due to the lack of real service life of pavements in Flanders, the current investigation analyses the effect of RAP on the performance characteristics (rutting, stiffness and resistance to fatigue) of a large number of bituminous mixtures in order to better estimate the effect of RAP on the service life of road pavements. 65 different hot asphalt mixtures for base layers that are registered and accepted for public road works in Flanders are analyzed. The RAP content in these mixtures ranges from 0 to 63%.
