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Nanostructure and damage characterisation of bitumen under a low cycle strain-controlled fatigue load based on molecular simulations and rheological measurements

Gao, Y. (author), Liu, X. (author), Ren, S. (author), Assaf Martinez-Streignard, E.I. (author), Liu, Pengfei (author), Zhang, Yuqing (author)

Bitumen fatigue resistance is critical to determine the overall fatigue performance and service life of asphalt pavements. However, the mechanisms responsible for fatigue damage of bitumen have previously not been well understood. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation has recently emerged as a powerful computer-aided numerical technique to model...

journal article 2024

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RAP pre-treatment for fast cold in-place recycling

Lin, P. (author), Liu, X. (author), Ren, S. (author), Li, Yi (author), Erkens, S. (author), Welvaarts, B. (author), Brouns, K. (author)

Developed by Delft University of Technology, the tri-component polyurethane modified cold binder (PMCB) displays impressive durability and strength in asphalt mixtures, showing promise as a reliable binder for cold in-place recycling. However, when applying PMCB for rapid, in-situ recycling, the presence of moisture in reclaimed asphalt...

conference paper 2024

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Role of thermodynamic relaxation on effectiveness of recycling agents on properties of aged bitumen

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

The low-temperature relaxation and fatigue cracking performance are two essential aspects in estimating the rejuvenation efficiency of recycling agents (RAs). This study aims to fundamentally investigate the effects of recycling agent type/dosage and aging degree of bitumen on thermodynamic and rheological properties of rejuvenated bitumen at...

journal article 2024

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Aging and rejuvenation effects on the rheological response and chemical parameters of bitumen

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Varveri, Aikaterini (author), Khalighi, S. (author), Jing, R. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

The rejuvenation efficiency of aged bitumen is the main concern when developing rejuvenating agents. It is necessary to develop a method to assess the efficiency of rejuvenators using rheological parameters in the whole frequency region. To this end, the 2S2P1D micromechanics model is adopted to fit the entire G∗ master curves of various...

journal article 2023

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Unraveling the influence of fibers on aging susceptibility and performance of high content polymer modified asphalt mixtures

Lin, P. (author), Liu, X. (author), Ren, S. (author), Li, Yi (author), Xu, Jian (author), Li, Mingliang (author)

High-Content SBS Polymer Modified Asphalt Mixtures (HCPMA) combined with fibers have gained popularity in porous pavement construction due to their superior performance. Although the aging behavior of HCPMA has been extensively studied, the impact of fibers on performance and aging susceptibility remains unclear. This research investigates the...

journal article 2023

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Effects of Bitumen Thickness on the Aging Behavior of High-Content Polymer-Modified Asphalt Mixture

Lin, P. (author), Liu, X. (author), Ren, S. (author), Xu, Jian (author), Li, Yi (author), Li, Mingliang (author)

The film thickness of asphalt mixtures is critical for determining their performance and aging durability. However, understanding of the appropriate film thickness and its influence on performance and aging behavior for high-content polymer-modified asphalt (HCPMA) mixtures is still limited. This research aims to examine the relationship between...

journal article 2023

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Unraveling the critical indicators for evaluating the high-temperature performance of rejuvenator-aged bitumen blends

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

This study aims to systematically investigate the influence of rejuvenator type/dosage and the aging degree of bitumen on the rutting resistance, flow behavior, and elastic/creep potential of rejuvenated bitumen at high temperatures. The rutting parameter (G*/sinδ), rutting failure temperature (RFT) from Linear viscoelastic test (LVE), zero...

journal article 2023

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Investigating the rheological properties and compatibility behaviours of RET/PE and WR/CR/ SBS compound-modified bitumen

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Jing, R. (author), Gao, Y. (author), Lin, P. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

Two types of elastomer/plastic compound-modified bitumen were developed by means of incorporating the reactive elastomeric terpolymer (RET) into the plastic (high-density polyethylene HDPE or recycled polyethylene RPE) modified bitumen and adding the wax residue (WR) into the bitumen/elastomer (crumb rubber CR or styrene–butadiene–styrene SBS)...

journal article 2023

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Insight into the critical evaluation indicators for fatigue performance recovery of rejuvenated bitumen under different rejuvenation conditions

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

This study aims to propose critical fatigue indicators for evaluating the restoration effectiveness of various rejuvenators on the fatigue performance of aged bitumen. The influence factors of rejuvenator type/dosage and aging degree of bitumen are involved, and different fatigue parameters from linear viscoelastic (LVE), linear amplitude sweep ...

journal article 2023

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Role of Surface Roughness in Surface Energy Calculation of Aggregate Minerals

Gao, Y. (author), Liu, X. (author), Ren, S. (author), Li, Yuanyuan (author), Zhang, Yuqing (author)

Surface energy is a key material property and can work as a crucial parameter in various mechanical models to predict the moisture sensitivity and fatigue damage of asphalt mixtures. The calculated surface energy values of the aggregate minerals strongly depend on their surface roughness. Therefore, it is very relevant for accurate...

journal article 2023

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Molecular dynamics simulation and experimental validation on the interfacial diffusion behaviors of rejuvenators in aged bitumen

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Gao, Y. (author), Jing, R. (author), Lin, P. (author), Erkens, S. (author), Wang, H. (author)

This study aims to multiscale investigate the effects of rejuvenator type, temperature, and aging degree of bitumen on the diffusion behaviors of rejuvenators (bio-oil BO, engine-oil EO, naphthenic-oil NO, and aromatic-oil AO) in aged binders. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method is performed to detect the molecular-level diffusion...

journal article 2023

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Towards critical low-temperature relaxation indicators for effective rejuvenation efficiency evaluation of rejuvenator-aged bitumen blends

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

The relaxation behavior affected by aging and rejuvenation plays a crucial role in its low-temperature cracking potential of bitumen. However, there are limited studies on the relaxation performance of rejuvenated bitumen under different rejuvenation conditions. This paper aims to propose critical indicators to assess the rejuvenation efficiency...

journal article 2023

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Do different chemical and rheological properties act as effective and critical indicators for efficiency evaluation of rejuvenated bitumen?

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), van Aggelen, M. (author), Lin, P. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

This study investigates the impacts of rejuvenator type/dosage and the aging degree of bitumen on the chemical and rheological properties of rejuvenated bitumen, and propose critical chemo-rheological indicators for evaluating rejuvenation efficiency. Moreover, the potential connections between essential chemical and rheological indices of...

journal article 2023

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Molecular dynamics simulation on bulk bitumen systems and its potential connections to macroscale performance: Review and discussion

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Lin, P. (author), Gao, Y. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation plays an effective role in predicting the critical properties and explaining the macroscale phenomenon at the nanoscale. This review summarized the application cases of MD simulations in various bitumen systems, considering aging, modification, and rejuvenation factors. Meanwhile, the potential relationships...

review 2022

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Review on the diffusive and interfacial performance of bituminous materials: From a perspective of molecular dynamics simulation

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Lin, P. (author), Gao, Y. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

The cohesive and adhesive performances of bituminous materials significantly affect the service life of asphalt pavement. The molecular dynamics (MD) simulation method has been proved as an effective tool to predict the thermodynamics parameters of different multisubstance and multi-phase bitumen models during different diffusion, self-healing,...

review 2022

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Effect of High Content of Waste Tire Rubber and Sulfur on the Aging Behavior of Bitumen

Wang, Sheng (author), Huang, Weidong (author), Liu, X. (author), Lin, P. (author), Ren, S. (author), Li, Yi (author)

High content rubber modified bitumen (HCRMB) prepared from the high content of waste tire rubber and bitumen has good performance while allowing greater use of the waste tires. However, HCRMB is subject to aging during use, which can affect its performance. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effect of high content of waste tire...

journal article 2022

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A Comprehensive Study on the Rejuvenation Efficiency of Compound Rejuvenators for the Characterization of the Bituminous Binder, Mortar, and Mixture

Li, Mingliang (author), Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Wu, Zhe (author), Zhang, Haopeng (author), Fan, Weiyu (author), Lin, P. (author), Xu, Jian (author)

This study aims to comprehensively investigate the rejuvenation efficiency of various self-developed compound rejuvenators on the physical, mechanical, and aging properties of aged bitumen, asphalt mortar, and mixture. The results revealed that the restoration capacity of vacuum distilled-oil rejuvenators on high-and-low temperature performance...

journal article 2022

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Effect of Bio-oil on Rheology and Chemistry of Organosolv Lignin–Modified Bitumen

Zhang, Y. (author), Liu, X. (author), Ren, S. (author), Jing, R. (author), Lin, P. (author), Apostolidis, P. (author), Erkens, S. (author), Wang, Xuancang (author), Scarpas, Athanasios (author)

Lignin, one of the most abundant natural polymers, has been extensively studied as an additive in bituminous binders. Even though the lignin improves the overall resistance against oxidative aging of bitumen, it could lead to high thermal cracking sensitivity. In this study, a bio-oil (i.e., rapeseed oil) is implemented in lignin-modified...

journal article 2022

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Insight into the compatibility behaviors between various rejuvenators and aged bitumen: Molecular dynamics simulation and experimental validation

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Lin, P. (author), Gao, Y. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

The compatibility potential of rejuvenators plays an important role in improving the blending degree of rejuvenated bitumen. This study aims at estimating the efficiency of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation in predicting the compatibility between rejuvenators and aged bitumen, and exploring the influence of rejuvenator type, aging degree of...

journal article 2022

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Influence of swelling-degradation degree on rheological properties, thermal pyrolysis kinetics, and emission components of waste crumb rubber modified bitumen

Ren, S. (author), Liu, X. (author), Lin, P. (author), Erkens, S. (author)

This study investigated the effects of swelling-degradation degree on the rheological properties and thermal pyrolysis behaviors of crumb rubber modified bitumen (CRMB). The equilibrium viscosity of CRMB in 160 ◦Cswelling process is 10.5 Pa·s at 8 h. During the 200℃-degradation procedure, the viscosity increased to a maximum value of 20.58 Pa·s...

journal article 2022