Investigation of Optimal Mix Design of Full Depth Reclamation Stabilization with Cement and Emulsion

Project summary:

Full-depth reclamation (FDR) is widely recognized as a cost-effective rehabilitation method for road reconstruction, providing increased structural capacity with the addition of a stabilizing agent. For example, the use of portland cement as a stabilizing agent can significantly increase material stiffness, but it can also increase cracking potential. It is possible that a balanced combination of the more traditional asphalt emulsion or foamed asphalt stabilizers and portland cement can produce a base material with high stiffness as well as good cracking resistance. The objectives of this project were: 1) to understand whether the current Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) algorithm can be used to evaluate the performance of stabilized full-depth reclamation (SFDR), in which the stabilized sub-base can be modeled as an asphalt layer; and 2) to identify the performance requirement of SFDR through a numerical sensitivity study.