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An appropriate bitumen content and its properties in hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixture impact on the long-term mechanical strength of the laid asphalt pavement and the required road operation properties. During the production of a HMA mixture in an asphalt mixing plant (AMP), relationships between the structure and interaction of the mixture are established based on technological processes that specify bitumen batching and component mixing. These processes ensure the long-term strength, texture, evenness, the degree of damage and rheological properties of road pavement. The presented mathematical model enables us to determine the distribution of oxygen pressure by time in differently sized drops of bitumen during their fall into a mixer. The model considers oxygen diffusion, which depends on temperature, and heat conductivity, which depends on temperature, density and specific heat. An active experimental investigation under real production conditions demonstrated that the method of bitumen discharge from a batcher, temperature and time spent mixing materials with hot mineral aggregates impact on properties of bitumen binder within the produced HMA mixture. Parameters of technological processes for mixing of bitumen with mineral aggregates that occur in a bitumen batching system (BBS) are stochastic and impact on the composition of bitumen binder as well as physical and mechanical properties of the produced HMA mixture, namely, air void content, stability, flow and Marshall quotient. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Bitumen holds the aggregate in hot mix asphalt (HMA). Without asphalt binder, HMA would simply be crushed stone or gravel. A bitumen batching system (BBS) is comprised of bitumen storage, transportation, weighing and discharge equipment in an asphalt mixing plant (AMP). The function of the equipment is to batch the binder heated up to working temperature and to discharge it into a mixer in batches. In the entire system, the binder is exposed to high temperature and oxygen. Bitumen is slowly oxidized when it is in contact with oxygen. The degree of oxidation is highly dependent on temperature, time and thickness of a bitumen film. This article models the key factors influencing on the dynamics of bitumen oxidation in BBS equipment. Stone mastic asphalt (SMA) mixture was produced from the same materials according to the same job-mix formula (JMF) in neighbouring batch type AMP by changing the mixing time of materials from 20 to 60 s. Bitumen binder was separated from the taken SMA samples and its gradation was identified. Thus, Marshall specimens were produced and tested. PenetrationPen25of bitumen binder recovered in rotary evaporator, softening pointTspwas determined and penetration indexIpwas calculated. The presented findings of experimental investigation show that the properties of bitumen binder in BBS working at two different technologies changed inconsistently. Due to gravitation, the bitumen intensively flowing into a mixer (BBS1) is impacted by oxidation more than the bitumen batched by a high-pressure pump (BBS2). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]