j o u r n a l o f t r a f fi c a n d t r a n s p o r t a t i o n e n g i n e e r i n g ( e n g l i s h e d i t i o n ) 2 0 1 7 ; x ( x ) : 1 e8

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Original Research Paper

Investigation of influential factors on the tensile

strength of cold recycled mixture with bitumen
emulsion due to moisture conditioning

Mouhamed Bayane Bouraima*, Yanjun Qiu

School of Civil Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China

highlights

Effect of moisture conditioning on the tensile strength of cold recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion is investigated.

Factorial design is carried out using different factors.

Specimen thickness is the most significant factor affecting the tensile strength followed by air voids content.

Appropriate specimen thickness and air voids content should be selected to quantify the representative tensile strength during in-situ
conditions.

article info abstract

Article history: The present study attempts to investigate the effect of moisture conditioning on the in-
Received 21 April 2016 direct tensile strength (ITS) of cold recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion. Firstly,
Received in revised form samples were prepared using a Superpave gyratory compactor. They were hence condi-
29 August 2016 tioned using moisture induced sensitivity tester (MIST) device. Factorial design was carried
Accepted 31 August 2016 out considering four factors each at two different levels. These factors were specimen
Available online xxx thickness, air voids content, pressure and number of cycles. In the MIST device, samples
are cyclically subjected to water pressure through the sample pores. The MIST conditioned
Keywords: samples were tested for indirect tensile strength. The analysis of two-level full-factorial
Tensile strength designed experiments revealed that all four factors have a negative effect on tensile
Factorial design strength of cold recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion. Specimen thickness was the
Specimen thickness most significant factor affecting the tensile strength followed by air voids content. In two-
Air voids content factor interaction, specimen thickness-number of cycles, air voids content-pressure, and
Pressure pressure-number of cycles were significant. The most significant three-factor interaction
Number of cycles was specimen thickness-pressure-number of cycles. The results from the study suggest
that in measuring tensile strength, the appropriate specimen thickness and air voids
content should be selected to quantify the representative tensile strength for in-situ
conditions.
2017 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on
behalf of Owner. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

* Corresponding author. Tel.: 86 15828336371.

E-mail addresses: mouba121286@yahoo.fr (M. B. Bouraima), publicqiu@vip.163.com (Y. Qiu).
Peer review under responsibility of Periodical Offices of Chang'an University.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
2095-7564/ 2017 Periodical Offices of Chang'an University. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Owner. This is an open
access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
2 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2017; x (x): 1e8
1. Introduction
Tensile strength is one of the critical parameters that should be
taken into consideration for pavement performance evaluation.
It is playing an important role as design and evaluation tool for
Superpave mixtures (Khosla and Harikrishnan, 2007). Pavement
engineers have more interest on the tensile properties of
bituminous because of the problem associated with cracking.
The indirect tensile strength test is used to determine the
tensile properties of the bituminous mixture which can
further be related to the cracking properties of a pavement. It
is an indicator of strength and adherence against fatigue,
temperature cracking and rutting. This test involves preparing
a compacted cylindrical asphalt mixture subjected to
compressive load which is parallel to and along the vertical
diametrical plane. Many factors affect the tensile strength of
moisture conditioned asphalt mixtures when subjected to
indirect tensile test. These factors include the specimen
thickness, air voids content, number of MIST cycles and
pressure. Numerous works have studied the effect of moisture
on asphalt concrete. Its crucial effects on fatigue behavior and
permanent deformation performance had already been
demonstrated (Cheng et al., 2003; Cross et al., 2001; Wong
et al., 2004). Previous works have extensively addressed
changes in the stiffness of asphalt concrete (AC) due to
moisture conditioning (Islam et al., 2014; Weldegiorgis, 2014).
AASHTO T283 as well as EN 12697-12 has been used by
scholars to see the influence of moisture on tensile strength of
asphalt mixtures. Unfortunately, this test doesn't reflect the
field condition because only one cycle of saturation and
freezing thawing is performed (Tarefder and Ahmad, 2015).
Therefore, there is a need for a method that can accurately
determine moisture susceptibility of cold recycled mix with
bitumen emulsion in the laboratory where field condition is
simulated. In order to better simulate field conditions, it has
been recommended to replicate the pumping action of traffic
loading with a cyclic load rather than a constant load (Kandhal
and Rickards, 2001). The moisture induced sensitivity tester
(MIST), introduced by Instro Tek replicates the stripping
mechanism in the field which is caused by cyclic loading and
unloading of tire pressure on asphalt concrete mixtures.
Moisture damage is a common problem that has resulted in
pavement failure. Research efforts have been directed to solve
this problem by using numerous qualitative and quantitative
tests methods (Hicks, 1991; Kandhal, 1992, 1994). The boiling
water test (ASTM D3625) and static-immersion test (AASHTO
T182) are qualitative tests, while the Lottman test (NCHRP 246),
Tunnicliff and Root conditioning (NCHRP 274), modified Lott-
man test (AASHTO T283), Texas freeze-thaw pedestal test, and
immersion-compression test (AASHTO T165) are quantitative
strength tests (Roberts et al., 1996). Qualitative tests are applied
on loose materials and are based on the visual inspection of
samples after conditioning in order to determine the degree
of moisture. The evaluation of moisture damage in these
tests is quite subjective and depends on personal experience
and interpretation. The quantitative method is performed on
compacted asphalt mix samples. It usually prescribes
measuring some property of asphalt mix sample, subjecting
to moisture conditioning. Literature review emphasized both
Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
on the Tunnicliff and Root (1984) and the AASHTO T283-03
(AASHTO, 2007) as the two commonly used quantitative tests
methods to evaluate moisture sensitivity. The only
difference between AASHTO T283-03 and Tunnicliff and Root
is that the curing of loose mixture at 60  C in an oven for 16 h
is eliminated in ASTM D4867. A minimum tensile strength
ratio (TSR) of 0.70e0.80 is specified by highway agencies
(Roberts et al., 1996) for AASHTO T283.
While setting up new moisture conditioning protocol,
Varveri et al. (2014) determine the optimum number of MIST
conditioning cycles on the basis of MIST tests on an AC
mixture with sandstone aggregates and polymer modified
binder. AC specimens were placed into the MIST without any
prior conditioning. Such a procedure is meant to induce
enough damage to distinguish among mixtures with different
moisture damage susceptibility. Three sets of specimens were
used in replicas of three. Thousand cycles were applied on
the specimens from the first set whereas 4000 cycles have
been applied on the specimens of the second and 8000 cycles
on the third set. As expected, the accretion of cycle number
led to more damage at the same temperature and pressure of
60  C and 0.48 MPa were used respectively. Tests have shown
that at 4000 cycles, specimens displayed a reduction in
strength of about 25% which was considered sufficient for the
evaluation and ranking of asphalt mixtures. Besides, it has
been demonstrated that the use of cyclic pore pressures has a
significant effect and can be used as an accelerated moisture
conditioning procedure.
Mallick et al. (2003) conducted series of tests with open
graded (OG) and thin particles (TP) mix samples, with similar
gradation and asphalt content but different aggregates, using
different number of cycles and temperatures and new
equipment. Calcareous sandstone aggregate type is used in
OG mixes whereas siliceous siltstone is used as aggregate
type in TP mixes. Mixes TP are considered to be sufficiently
resistant to moisture induced damage while the OG mixes
are not. The new equipment is made of a system which is
used as a supply of compressed air to load and apply vacuum
to force air out and in (respectively) through a HMA sample,
which is kept in water maintained at a constant temperature.
Tests were conducted at 2000, 3000, 4000 and 6000 cycles
mostly at 60  C, and some at 40  C. Results showed that the
strength of the mixes decreases with the accretion of cycle
number. The procedure is therefore, successful in simulating
moisture induced damage in laboratories.
Researchers have found that reducing air voids content can
increase mixtures engineering properties, both rutting and
indirect tensile strength (ITS). In laboratory compaction, the air
voids content which is the reserve of density is one of the main
functions of compactive effort; the mixture is confined in a
rigid mold, where more gyrations result in less voids in the mix
(Zhao, 2011). Statistical analyses have been conducted by
scholars based on air voids content effect. Those analyses
showed that at different level of air voids content, rut depths
were significantly different. Mixtures with higher air voids
content have higher rut depths than the lower air voids
content mixture. Thus, low air voids content in this study is
the favorable rutting resistance end. Therefore, increasing
the density of the pavement can reduce air voids content in
the pavement, and will further increase rutting performance
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2017; x (x): 1e8
(Zhao, 2011). They concluded that air voids content is an
important factor. Increasing density by 3% (air voids content
from 7% to 4%) can make a significant difference in the
tensile properties: ITS and fracture energy will increase,
while the deformation will decrease (Zhao, 2011).
A ruggedness study (ASTM E1169) was performed on the
MIST by Preetham in Osmania University Hyderabad in 2012.
The aim of that study was to determine if the tolerances of test
parameters have any impact on test results. The study was
performed on only one mix. Test conditions were pressure,
temperature, air voids content and height of compacted
samples. From the obtained results, they concluded that
height and void content of the samples had significant effects
on ITS when the samples were conditioned by the MIST. The
factor having the largest effect was the samples height
(Kaukuntla, 2012). Laboratory tests were conducted to
investigate the effect of specimen thickness and diameter. It
has been observed that small diameter and thin specimens
yielded higher resilient modulus than the large diameter and
thick specimens. This may be due to the higher confinement
of the aggregate particles in the smaller dimension. Apart
from the larger diameter and thicker specimens, the
probability of higher percentages of micro cracks is higher
than that of the smaller specimens. Therefore, the rate of
energy released in the larger specimens is higher than that
of the smaller ones. A similar effect is noticed in Portland
cement specimens. Smaller cylinders always yield a higher
strength than that of the larger specimens. Therefore, a
representative geometry should be selected to have a
resilient modulus that matches the actual field conditions
(Ghaffarpour Jahromi and Khodaii, 2009).
Moisture damage resulting from MIST conditioning is
evaluated using the dynamic modulus ratio (DMR) of wet to dry
samples. MIST conditioning is performed at three different
pressures (40, 55, 70 psi), three temperatures (40  C, 50  C, 60  C)
and three number of cycles (3500, 7000 and 10,500). MIST con-
ditioning is found to decrease the E* value of asphalt concrete
indicating the presence of moisture damage. The average DMR
is observed to decrease from 1.0 to 0.85, 0.56 and 0.46 for MIST
conditioning at 3500, 7000 and 10,500 cycles. When the MIST
conditioning temperature is increasing to 40  C, 50  C and 60  C,
the average DMR decreases from 1.0 to 0.90, 0.82 and 0.76,
respectively. When the DMR is in the conditions of 276, 376 and
483 kPa, MIST conditioning pressures are determined to be 1.0,
0.91 and 0.72, respectively. Therefore moisture damage in-
creases with an increasing in number of cycles, temperatures
and pressures (Weldegiorgis, 2014).
This research aims to investigate the effects of specimen
thickness, number of cycles, pressure and air voids content,
and their interaction on the ITS value changing of the cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture
conditioning.
2. Materials
The reclaimed asphalt pavement was obtained from G85
Highway from Neijiang to Yibin. According to the screening
results of the materials, the design limits and gradation used
in this study of cold recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion
Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
3
are shown in Fig. 1. The selected type of bitumen emulsion is a
slow-setting cationic bitumen emulsion. Properties of the
bitumen emulsion are provided in Table 1 using Technical
Specification for Highway Asphalt Pavement Recycling (JTG
F41-2008) (Ministry of Transport of the People's Republic of
China, 2008). Hongshi 42.5 ordinary Portland cement
concrete is used as binding additive. Its performance
indicators are shown in Table 2. All the indicators meet the
requirements. Table 3 shows physical properties of recycled
asphalt pavement (RAP) and new aggregates.
3. Mixture design and test method
3.1. Mixture design
Initially, recycled mixtures, RAP, new aggregates, cement and
mineral filler are mixed together without water, then water
was added. Finally, bitumen emulsion was added to the
mixture. Table 4 shows the mixture design proportion, and
the properties of mixtures are displayed in Table 5.
Specimens were prepared at different number of gyrations
with Superpave gyratory machine according to the air voids
content and specimen thickness. All compacted samples
were left in the mold and cured at room temperature for at
least half an hour. After initial curing the samples were put
in oven at 60  C for 48 h. The cured samples were allowed to
cool at room temperature for at least 10 h. The bulk specific
gravity and volumetric properties of recycled mixtures were
investigated. The air voids content of 10% and 12% of the
total weight of the mixtures were selected for the
preparations of this study. Similarly, specimens were
compacted by Superpave gyratory compactor at 70 and
100 mm thickness. A total of 32 samples were conditioned
by MIST using different number of cycles (2500 and 3500),
pressure (30 and 40 psi), and temperature of 60  C was also
assumed. The different factors and levels considered in this
research are summarized in Table 6.
3.2. Test methods
Two methods have been used for materials testing and their
explanations are given below.
Fig. 1 e Gradation curves of cold recycled mixture with
bitumen emulsion.
4 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2017; x (x): 1e8

Table 1 e Test results of cationic bitumen emulsion.

Property JTG F41-2008 specification Test result
Breaking speed Slow breaking Slow breaking
Particle charge Cationic () Cationic ()
Sieve residue (1.18 mm sieve) (%) 0.1 0.04
Angler viscosity E25 2e30 5.4
Residual bitumen characteristics Content 62 63.9
Penetration (25  C) (0.01 mm) 50e300 58.8
15  C ductility (cm) 40 60
Adhesion with coarse aggregate 2/3 2/3
Storage stability 1 d (%) 1 0.1
5 d (%) 5 0.8

3.2.1. Moisture induced sensitivity tester
The moisture induced sensitivity tester (MIST) is a relatively
new test for conditioning HMA samples for evaluating mois-
ture susceptibility of HMA mixes. The MIST is a self-contained
conditioning unit manufactured by Instro Tek. The device
(Fig. 2) can determine the moisture damage caused by water
through the replication of field cyclic traffic loading at hot-
in-place pavement temperatures. The main goal of the test
is to replicate the field conditions that cause moisture
susceptibility in the laboratory in a short period of time.
Other test methods take a longer duration to complete
usually over 24 h whereas the MIST can be completed in 6 h.
The MIST consists of tank that holds two samples
(compacted to 150 mm in diameter and 100 mm in height)
and is filled with water. The test temperature of the device
can be between 30  C and 60  C and 75 psi of pressure can be
reached in the tank. The number of pressure cycles for the
test can be set between 1 and 50,000 cycles. The general test
conditions of temperature and pressure are 60  C and 40 psi.
3.2.2. Indirect tensile strength test
The indirect tensile strength test (T0716-2011) is done by
loading a cylindrical specimen with compressive loads which
act parallel to and along the vertical diametrical plane, as
shown in Fig. 3. The specimens (32 samples in total) after
subjecting to moisture in MIST device were removed and
immediately put in 25  C water bath for two hours. Finally
the MIST conditioned samples were tested for indirect
tensile strength (ITS). Compressive load and displacement
values are measured and indirect tensile strength is
calculated based on the following formula.
RT 0.00425PT/h
where RT is indirect tensile strength (MPa), PT is applied load
(N), h is displacement (mm).
4. Results and discussions

A two-level four-factor full-factorial design of experiment was

Table 2 e Cement technical index. carried out in this study to investigate the effects of four fac-
tors on tensile strength of cold recycled emulsion based
Test item Technical Test
asphalt mixture after moisture conditioning. The effects and
indicator result
p-value of selected factors are represented in Table 7. The
Specific surface area (m2/kg) 300e450 332
effect is defined as the difference between the average
Area standard consistency (%) e 26
Setting time (min) Initial 180 303
responses of the factor at both levels while interaction is the
Final 360 401 effect between two factors (B*A) which can be defined as the
Stability 5 0.5 mean difference between the effects of air voids content and
Flexural strength (3 d) (MPa) 4 4.2 specimen thickness at high and low levels. There is also an
Compressive strength (3 d) (MPa) 22 25.6 interaction effect between three factors (B*A*C) which is also
defined as the main difference between the effects of air

Table 3 e Performances of RAP and new aggregate.

Property RAP 0e5 RAP 5e10 RAP 10e30 New aggregate JTG F40-2004 specification
Clay content (%) 2.2 0.5 0.4 0.7 1
Flakiness content (%) e 10.4 8.3 14.5 15
Crushing value (%) e 20.6 18.5 19.8 28
Angularity (s) 32 30

Table 4 e Mixture design proportion.

RAP 0e5 RAP 5e10 RAP 10e20 New aggregate Filler Cement Bitumen emulsion Water
Proportion 33 21 32 12 2 1.5 3.5 2.9

Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2017; x (x): 1e8 5

Table 5 e Properties of the mixture.

Test item JTG F41-2008 specification Test result
Air voids (%) 9e14 10
Theoretical maximum density 2.491
Splitting test (15  C) Splitting strength (MPa) 0.5 0.94
Dry wet split strength ratio (%) 75 95.9
Marshall stability test (40  C) Marshall stability (kN) 6 30.6
Marshall residual stability (%) 75 98.4
Tensile strength ratio (%) 70 92.6

comparing to pressure and number of cycles which have

Table 6 e Factors considered in the factorial analysis.
respectively higher p-values (0.583 and 0.708). In two-factor
Factor Abb. Low level High level interactions, the pressure-number of cycles (C*D, p-
Specimen thickness (cm) A 70 100 value 0.000) interaction effect on the tensile strength is
Air voids content (%) B 10 12 important followed by specimen thickness-number of cycles
Pressure (psi) C 30 40 (A*D, p-value 0.002) interaction and then air voids content-
Number of cycles D 2500 3500
pressure (B*C, p-value 0.029) interaction effect. The
interactions between specimen thickness-air voids content
(A*B, p-value 0.104), specimen thickness-pressure (A*C, p-
voids content, specimen thickness and pressure at same value 0.124) and air voids content-number of cycles (B*D,
levels. From Table 7 it can be observed that effect estimates p-value 0.608) are insignificant with highest p-value.
of all the main factors are negative. This signifies that they Specimen thickness-pressure-number of cycles (A*C*D) is
have negative effect on the tensile strength of cold recycled the most significant three-factor interaction because of the
emulsion based asphalt mixture. It is also implies that if the lowest p-value (0.006). Table 8 shows the analysis of
levels of these factors are increased, the tensile strength will variance for the different effects. The higher the F value the
be decreased. A lower p-value represents the significance of higher the significance of the factor. So from Table 8,
individual factors and interactions. From Table 7, it is also specimen thickness is the most significant factor followed
shown that for the main effects, specimen thickness and air by air voids content, then the interactions between factors.
voids content are very significant factors (p-value 0.000) It can be concluded that A > B > C*D > A*D > A*C*D > B*C.

Fig. 2 e MIST device. Fig. 3 e Cylindrical specimen with compressive load.

Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
6 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2017; x (x): 1e8

Table 7 e Effects and p-value of selected factors.

Factor Effect p-value
Main effect
A 87.76 0.000
B 66.64 0.000
C 5.24 0.583
D 3.54 0.708
Two-factor interaction
A*B 16.03 0.104
A*C 15.11 0.124
A*D 35.27 0.002
B*C 22.80 0.029
C*D 48.49 0.000
Fig. 4 e Cumulative normal probability of effect estimates
B*D 4.86 0.608
(response is tensile strength, a 0.05).
Three-factor interaction
A*B*C 9.48 0.323
A*B*D 17.61 0.076
A*C*D 29.60 0.006
B*C*D 7.51 0.431 interactions in terms of significance. It can be concluded
that both Figs. 4 and 5 have same results.
The plot of main factors effects is shown in Fig. 6. It can be
easily seen from Fig. 6 that all factors have negative slope. The
A cumulative normal probability plot of main and inter-
specimen thickness plot has a very steep negative slope. It is
action effect of full model parameters is shown in Fig. 4.
observed that thinner specimens yield higher tensile
Effects that lie on the straight line are considered as
strength than the thicker specimens. This may be due to the
insignificant main effects or interactions whereas effects
high confinement of aggregate particles in the smaller
lying outside of the straight line are depicted as significant.
dimension. Apart from the thicker specimens, the
It is clear that all factors are not lying along a straight line.
probability of higher percentages of micro cracks is higher
The factors outliers (represented by squares) are the most
than that of the smaller specimens. Therefore the rate of
concerning in predicting the tensile strength and are
energy released in the larger specimens is higher than that
considered to be the most governing parameters. The
of the smaller ones. Air voids content slope has also shown
effects that are insignificant are normally distributed with
the negative slope. This may be due to the fact that with
mean zero and variance s2 and will tend to fall along a
increase of air voids content, water can easily flow through
straight line on this plot, whereas significant main effects
the asphalt mixes. The increase of air voids content in the
and interaction will have non zero means and will not lie
mix results in the infiltration of water at high rate, and thus
along the straight line (Daniel, 1959). From Fig. 4 it can be
decrease in tensile strength takes place. Similarly, it is also
seen that, specimen thickness is the most important factor
found that number of cycles and pressure plots have mild
affecting the tensile strength, followed by air voids content,
negative slope and have almost the same trend of slope
then the interactions between the different factors. It is
which indicate that the increases in number of cycles or
also seen from Fig. 4 that, pressure and number of cycles
pressure result in decrease in the tensile strength.
are not potential outliers, thus it can be concluded that
A failure of one factor to produce the same effect on the
their respective effect studied in this research are not
response at different levels of another factor is defined as an
significant compare to specimen thickness which is a
interaction (Montgomery, 1997). When change in the values of
potential outlier. This may be attributed to the fact that the
one variable altered the effect on other, it said that there was
range of pressure (30e40 psi) and number of cycles
occurrence of interactions between two variables (Broota,
(2500e3500) evaluated in this study are very small. The
results of normal plot of the effects in Fig. 4 are further
verified by Pareto chart in Fig. 5, which displayed the

Table 8 e Analysis of variance of the significant factors.

Factor Sum of Mean F value p-value (Prob > F)
square square
A 61,616 61,616.3 89.17 0.000
B 35,532 35,532.4 51.42 0.000
A*D 9950 9950.4 14.40 0.002
B*C 3971 3971.2 5.75 0.029
C*D 18,811 18,811.2 27.22 0.000
A*C*D 7008 7008.1 10.14 0.006 Fig. 5 e Significant interaction at a 0.05 significance level
Model 147,939 9862.6 14.27 0.000
(response is tensile strength, a 0.05).

Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2017; x (x): 1e8
Fig. 6 e Main effect of factors on the tensile strength.
1990). Fig. 7 shows the interaction effect between factors. The
factor interactions which are insignificant will produce the
similar trends in the response at different levels of other
factor. As an example for interaction effect is shown in Fig. 7,
an insignificant two-factor interaction (B*D, p-value 0.608)
is presented. It is clear that when number of cycles is
increased by keeping air voids content at low level, tensile
strength decreases. Also, when number of cycles is increased
by keeping air voids content at high level, the tensile strength
again decreases. Thus the two factors have similar effect on
tensile strength and are shown to be almost parallel, which
implies that there is no interaction between the factors. For
significant interaction C*D with p-value 0.000 is taken as
example. It is clear that when number of cycles is increased
by keeping the pressure at low percentage level, tensile
strength increases. In the same way, when number of cycles
is increased by keeping the pressure at high level, tensile
strength decreases. Thus, pressure and number of cycles
don't have similar effect on the tensile strength, which
implies that there is an interaction between the factors.
Usually, the residuals plots help to check the integrity of a
fit in regression analysis. When the least squares assumptions
are reasonable to produce unbiased coefficient estimates with
minimum variance, the residual plots are typically used for
examination. Errors must be normally distributed which is
one of the basics to develop the model (Antony, 2003). The
normal assumption can be checked by normal probability
plot of residuals. The residuals are the difference in tensile
strength value between observed and predicted values. Fig. 8
shows the probability plot and it is clear that all the points
Fig. 7 e Interaction effect of factors on the tensile strength.
Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005
7
Fig. 8 e Normal probability plot of residual analysis
(response is tensile strength).
are quite close to the straight line which means that the
residuals are normally distributed.
5. Conclusions and recommendations
In this study, full-factorial design of experiment is carried out
to evaluate the effect of various factors such as air voids
content, specimen thickness, pressure and number of cycles
on the tensile strength of cold recycled emulsion based
asphalt mixture. It is observed that all the factors have
negative effect on the tensile strength of cold recycled asphalt
mixes. Specimen thickness is the most significant factor
affecting the tensile strength of cold recycled asphalt mixes
followed by air voids content. In two-factor interaction of
specimen thickness-number of cycles, air voids content-
pressure and pressure-number of cycles are significant. The
most significant three-factor interaction is specimen thick-
ness-pressure-number of cycles. Pressure alone is an insig-
nificant factor but it becomes significant in interaction with
air voids content and number of cycles. Number of cycles
alone is also an insignificant factor but it becomes significant
in interaction with pressure and air voids content. Pressure
and number of cycles are both insignificant factors but their
interaction with each other become significant. Specimen
thickness and air voids content are significant factors but their
interaction with each other become insignificant. The effects
of four factor full-factorial design are studied within a selected
range of values. Further studies are recommended with wider
range at both high and low levels of the parameters used in
the presented study. The effect of temperature should be
evaluated as well.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the Sichuan Provincial Transport Depart-
ment Highway Planning, Survey, Design and Research
Institute by providing the author with the required mate-
rials and devices needed to ensure that this work is suc-
cessfully accomplished. This paper was supported by the
National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No.
51308477).
8 J. Traffic Transp. Eng. (Engl. Ed.) 2017; x (x): 1e8

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Please cite this article in press as: Bouraima, M.B., Qiu, Y., Investigation of influential factors on the tensile strength of cold
recycled mixture with bitumen emulsion due to moisture conditioning, Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
(English Edition) (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2016.08.005