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Cold-In-Place Recycling (CIPR): a new implemented technique for Pavement

Rehabilitation in Libya

Conference Paper · October 2012

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Cold-In-Place Recycling (CIPR): a new implemented technique
for Pavement Rehabilitation in Libya

M.E.Abukhettala1 , M. S. Zubi2
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Misurata University, Misurata, Libya, mukhtar1981@yahoo.com
2
Department of Civil Engineering, Misurata University, Misurata, Libya, mohamed_zubi@yahoo.com

Abstract
Cold in Place Recycling technique for pavement rehabilitation is a process of reusing the reclaimed asphalt
pavement, obtained from milling of a distressed asphalt pavement, after rejuvenating by a stabilization additive
such as cement, emulsified asphalt and foamed bitumen. The additive improves properties of mixture as bonding
and strength properties and the final mixture can be used efficiently as a base layer in the pavement structure.
Usually the scarified deteriorated asphalt pavement is weak and has insufficient capability to be reused
separately. Therefore remixing it with the stabilizer is considered an applicable solution to have a very sound
underlying base and save a valuable wastage by damping milled pavement materials and searching for other raw
material sources of acceptable properties to be used for road construction works. CIPR technique has been in use
since the 50’s in some countries like the USA and is gaining recognition and popularity worldwide as a cost-
effective technique. But it is still not so elsewhere as in Libya.
In 2006, Roads and bridges Authority of Libya RBA gave the green light to use the CIPR in the rehabilitation
work for one of the most strategic projects which is Tarhuna-Bani Walid single carriageway Road of 90Km
proposed by a Malaysian Company named “HCM Engineering Sdn. Bhd” which is undertaking that job. The
permission was given just for a trial section of 10km. Upon completion, RBA has approved the CIPR technique
for the remaining 80km.
This paper is aimed to highlight the first Libyan experience with CIPR. Bring into table the difficulties and
deficiencies with this technique in a third world country. Also, discussion is made on the availability of that kind
of stabilization additive which is usable to keep classification of CIPR as a cost-effective rehabilitation method.

Keywords: Asphalt pavement – Cold-In-Place Recycling – Foamed Bitumen.

1 INTRODUCTION
Recycling of the materials obtained from the milling of asphalt pavements, known as RAP (Reclaimed Asphalt
Pavement), involves mixing RAP with asphalt cement/emulsion and aggregates in definite proportions to
produce a new asphalt concrete mix or cold-in place recycled mixture.

Cold-in-place recycling is gaining recognition and popularity worldwide as a cost effective method of
rehabilitating distressed asphalt pavements. In-place recycling requires the use of specially designed recycling
machines with a mixing chamber. The existing pavement structure is pulverized to a predetermined depth and
while the milling operation is taking place in the front part of the machine, the milled material passes through a
mixing chamber where it is mixed with the stabilizing agent (lime, fly ash, bitumen emulsion, foamed bitumen
or cement slurry). The mixture is then placed on the milled pavement and compacted. The process is carried out
in a single-pass operation and the resulting product is for use as a stabilized base course. This base course is then
paved over with an HMA surface course.

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The Libyan government has decided to rehabilitate and improve the existing road from Tarhunah to Ben Walid,
covering a total length of approximately 92 km. The proposed rehabilitation methods included mill and replace
at locations with less severe surface defects and partial reconstruction at locations with more severe defects.

HCM Arabia (HCMA) was appointed by the Road and Bridge Authority (RBA) to undertake the project.
Realizing the benefits of the Cold In-Place Recycling (CIPR) technique as a cost effective pavement
rehabilitation option, HCMA was initiated to apply the recycling method on a 10km section along the road.

Project level pavement evaluation which comprised of manual visual condition survey, asphalt coring, Dynamic
Cone Penetrometer (DCP) test and trial pits were carried out at selected locations to enable the engineers to carry
out structural and mix designs accordingly.

1.0 EXISTING CONDITION

Visual Condition

The road was a single carriageway with a total width of 8 meter. The paved shoulder was 1 meter wide on each
side. The pavement has deteriorated considerably in terms of fatigue cracking where almost the entire section
has exhibited crocodile cracks or worse (Plate 1). Rutting was not observed and the foundation appeared to be
very good.

Figure 1. Severe crocodile cracks

Layer Thickness

The existing pavement consisted of asphaltic concrete surfacing, laid on top of granular roadbase and subbase.
From the cored samples (Plate 2), it was found that the thickness of the asphalt surfacing ranged between 114 to
141mm with an average of 130mm. The DCP test (Plate 3) indicated that the thickness of the granular roadbase
and subbase ranged between 178 to 402 mm with an average of 245mm and 184mm respectively. These
thicknesses as determined from the asphalt coring and DCP tests were comparable with that measured from the
trial pit (Plate 4).

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 Figure 2. Asphalt coring

Figure 3. Trial pit

Structural Condition

Further analysis of the DCP results indicated that although the asphalt surfacing was badly deteriorated, the
underneath layers were still sound with a CBR value of more than 80% for the roadbase/subbase and more than
50% for the subgrade. The average Structural Number (SN) of the pavements was found to be 4.3.

The mechanistic analysis of the existing pavements indicated that the pavements had residual life of less than
1msa, suggesting that strengthening overlay is required to cater for the future axle loading.

2.0 DESIGN AXLE LOADING

Classified traffic count and axle load survey were not carried out during the pavement evaluation exercise.
However it was estimated that the pavements were subjected to about 400 heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs)
per day in each direction. Each HCV causes damage to the pavements 3 times that of the standard axle, resulting
in a total cumulative of 5 million standard axles (msa) for a period of 10 years.:

3.0 CHARACTERISTIC SECTIONS

The delineation of uniform sections was normally based on a plot which synthesizes all available information
including profile (cut/fill), traffic, surface condition (cracking and rutting) and deflection. However, for this

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exercise and since the pavement structure, particularly the asphalt surfacing and the surface condition were not
significantly different, the entire 10km section was treated as one uniform section with the characteristics as
shown in Table 1 below:

Table 1.The existing pavement characteristics

Material Thickness (mm) CBR (%) Stiffness (MPa)

Asphalt Surfacing 130 700
Granular Road base 245 97 350
Sub base 184 73 280
Sub grade 50 60

4.0 REHABILITATION DESIGN

Pavement Structure

Pavement structural design was carried out using mechanistic approach. The section was designed such that the
strain at each layer interface and on top of the subgrade would not exceed the allowable strain for a given traffic
loading. Based on the analysis, the following rehabilitation options were considered:

Option 1: Partial Reconstruction

This option involves milling off the existing pavement materials to an average depth of 130mm and replacing
with ACBC and followed by 50mm ACWC overlay. The milling exercise will remove distressed/weak materials
as well as limit the increase of final road level to only 50mm throughout the carriageway width and length. This
treatment could withstand traffic loading of 4.5msa with an estimated pavement construction cost of LD
3,069,600.

Option 2: Recycling with Foamed Bitumen

This option involves milling off 60mm of the existing asphalt surfacing followed by milling and remixing
(CIPR) the remaining materials to a depth of 200mm with an addition of 3 to 4% foamed bitumen. A 60mm
ACBC layer is laid on top of the recycled material followed by 50mm ACWC overlay. This option removes the
existing cracked surface and stabilized the underlying roadbase. Through milling, the increase in final road level
can be limited to a maximum of 50mm. This treatment could withstand traffic loading of 19.8msa with an
estimated pavement construction cost of LD 3,128,000. In terms of cost effectiveness, this option is more than 4
times better than Option 1, hence recommended.

5.0 LABORATORY MIX DESIGN.

6.1 Introduction.

The laboratory mix design for Proposed CIPR Project Tarhuna – Ben Waled (TBW) was carried out at LMCRC
Laboratory in Tajura, Tripoli. The objectives of laboratory mix design are to determine:
i. The acceptable grading of the materials.
ii. The optimum moisture content (OMC) and maximum dry density ( MDD ).
iii. The recommended foamed bitumen content.
iv. Mechanical properties of the mix.

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6.2 Laboratory Mix Design Parameters

The gradation and test results shall comply with the laboratory mix design parameters as shown in Table 2.
Currently there is no standard specification for Cold in Place Recycling in Libya; however the parameters and
the requirements stated in Table 2 are adopted from Malaysian Specification for cold in place recycling.

Table 2 : Laboratory Mix Design Parameters

Minimum Strength
Parameters
(MPa)
i. Indirect Tensile Test (ITS)
0.2
on 100mm dia.briquette, cured at 40ºC for 72 hours.
ii. Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS)
0.15
on cured briquettes, soaked for 24 hours as above
iii. Maximum added cement content by weight. 2%
iv. Gradation % Passing
50 mm 100
37.5 mm 80 – 100
25 mm 65 – 100
19 mm 50 – 100
9.5 mm 40 – 80
4.75 mm 30 – 65
2.36 mm 20 – 50
425 μm 10 – 30
75 μm 2 - 15

6.3 Scope of Works

With reference to the flow chart in Appendix A, the sequences that these works has been carried out are as
follows:

i. Sampling of Existing Material.

Sampling of existing material was carried out at CH 20.00 and test pit was dug along the outer wheel-path of the
traffic lane of the road. Layers of RAP and road base are sampled separately for further laboratory testing. The
existing binder content of RAP is 4.25% and the existing moisture content of limestone road base layer is 4.9 %.
From the structural design analysis the proposed CIPR layer will consist of 35% RAP and 65% Roadbase
materials.

Plate 5: Existing Roadbase Plate 6: Existing RAP

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ii. Sieve Analysis.
Results of sieve analysis are as Table 3:
Table 3: Grading Analysis of proposed CIPR materials.
% Passing Proposed CIPR
Sieve Size % Passing % Passing Combined Gradation Envelop
(mm) RAP Roadbase (35%RAP + 65%CR) For TBW
50 100 100 100 100
37.5 96.2 100 97.5 80 - 100
25 87.1 99.1 91.3 65 - 100
19 82.8 98.7 88.3 50 - 100
9.5 63.9 76.3 68.2 40 - 80
4.75 38.0 39.4 38.5 30 - 65
2.36 30.6 20.2 26.9 20 - 50
0.425 19.61 4.76 14.41 10 - 30
0.075 12.10 0.62 8.08 2 - 15

100
90
80
70
% Passing

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Sieve size(m m )

%passing RAP %passing Roadbase

%passing Combined %passing Low er
%passing Upper

Figure 1: Grading analysis of existing materials.

iii. Determination of Optimum Moisture Content(OMC)/ Maximum Dry Density(MDD)

Determination of moisture density relationship OMC/MDD) test was carried out as Modified AASHTO method
(ASHTO T180) and results of OMC and MDD for combined aggregate are 7.2 % and 2.090 Mg/m³.

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 2.11
2.10
2.09
2.08
2.07
2.06

Dry Density Mg/m3

2.05
2.04
2.03
2.02
2.01
2.00
1.99
1.98
1.97
1.96
1.95
1.94
1.93
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
% Moisture Content

Figure 2: Moisture Content versus Dry Density.

iv. Determination of Foamed Bitumen Content.

Specimens for Indirect Tensile Strength (ITS) test are prepared using WLB 10 (Plate 7). Four batches of 10kg
samples are treated with foamed bitumen at different bitumen content. Samples than compacted 75 blows per
side and cured at 40ºC in the oven for 72 hours (Plate 8). After curing specimens are tested for density, ITSdry
and ITSsoaked . (refer table 4 and Plate 9).

Plate 7: WLB 10 Laboratory plant. Plate 8: Specimen for ITS test.

Table 4: Laboratory test results of ITS and Density.

Binder Retained Density
Specimen ID ITSdry ITSsoaked
Content (%) ITS (%) Mg/m³
M1 4.5 316 93 29 2.136
M2 2.5 428 42 10 2.232
M3 1.5 368 84 23 2.220
*M4 1.5 467 304 65 2.213
* M4 was mix with the additional of 1,0 % cement.

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 500
450
400
350

ITS (KPa)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6

% Foamed Bitumen

Figure 3: Percent foamed bitumen versus ITS.

Plate 9: Indirect Tensile Strength test (ITS).

6.4 Conclusion.

A laboratory mix design needs to be undertaken in order to optimize the quantity of foam bitumen and the
physical properties of the recycled mix. However, it must also be recognized that the mix design process cannot
definitively model what will happen in the field at the time of construction. Therefore, the mix design represents
the best possible starting point but the field adjustment must be expected. Field adjustments are made based on
Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QA/QC) test results and on the workability of the recycled mix. From the
laboratory test results, some conclusion can be made;
 From the ITSdry test results it is recommended the foam bitumen content for CIPR of TBW is 3%.
 Additional of 2.35% moisture content has to be added during the recycling process. (OMC (7.25%) minus
moisture content of existing materials (4.9%).
 Determination of effective binder content after recycling should be calculated based on percent binder
content after recycling minus existing binder content of RAP (approximately 1.5%).
 Percent of compaction after recycling should be calculated based on daily proctor test result.
 The additional of 1% cement to the mix resulting significance increase on the ITS strength value and percent
retained of ITS, therefore it is recommended the combination of 3% foamed bitumen and 1% cement
content shall be used for proposed CIPR works at TBW.
 The proposed solution of using CIPR to improve and strength the existing pavement condition was based on
studying a 10km segment of a road extended over about 90km. An in depth evaluation should have been
done to characterize material properties over the whole road section, but due to lack of understanding to the

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 CIPR procedure, the Roads and Bridges Authority has adopted the proposed rehabilitation method that mean
to be for just the first 10 km of the road, over the whole 90 km which might in the soon coming time
demonstrate some deficiencies in the adopted CIPR method.

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