Thermal conductivity of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) and its constituents

Up to the present, most work on the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) has been empirical in nature. Very recent advances have demonstrated that finite-element techniques can be effectively used for modelling asphalt mixing drums in order to optimise the relative proportions of new and recycled materials and to determine the amount of time required to achieve full melting inside of the drum. A necessary prerequisite for the modelling is a definitive knowledge of the thermal conductivities of RAP and its components. This need motivated the present experimental work which encompassed RAP particles, RAP particles with the asphalt binder removed, and pure asphalt binder of different degrees of ageing. Also evaluated were taconite tailings, residual rock from the processing of iron-containing ore, and sand. The tailings have been mentioned as a candidate aggregate. The conductivity results for the solid media were related to three metrics: (a) the size ranges of the solids, (b) the density of the sample as a whole and (c) the porosity of the sample. All of the conductivity results for the investigated solid media fell in the range from 17 to 30 W/m °C. The measured conductivities of the binder ranged from 0.17 to 0.19 W/m °C.