Characterization of rubberized asphalt for railway sub-ballasts

The use of a bituminous sub-ballast layer has been pointed out as an exciting alternative to the granular sub-ballast design traditionally applied in most railroad tracks. Frequently, unbound granular materials are replaced by bituminous sub-ballast that provide additional benefits to the subgrade protection. Much research has been conducted on finding other alternative material to be used as a modifier in asphalt mixes to improve its properties. Rubberized asphalt mixtures (RUMAC) are regarded as a proper solution for improving the strength of the rail-track section. This work presents a laboratory evaluation of the performance of HMA-DRY bituminous mixes to study its application as sustainable railway sub-ballast manufactured from scrap tires at the end of their service life. Several tests were used and different techniques for mixing-compaction (Superpave, Marshall, ASRC...). The research presented was carried out as part of the Marie Curie Initial Training Network (ITN) action, FP7-PEOPLE-2013-ITN. This project has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement nº 607524.

Autorentext

Fernando M. Soto is Bachelor in Architecture (2010), and M.Sc. in Structural Engineering (University of Granada, 2011). Doctor in Civil Engineering, Palermo (DICAM, Italy, 2017). Since 2014 to 2017 he received a Marie-Curie grant (SUP&RITN Project, University of Palermo). From 2017, until now, he joined Department of Structural Mechanics, UGR.