Introduction to Bituminous materials

The term bituminous materials is generally used to denote substances in which bitumen is
present or from which it can be derived. Bitumen is defined as an amorphous, black or darkcolored, (solid, semi-solid, or viscous) cementitious substance, composed principally of high
molecular weight hydrocarbons, and soluble in carbon disulfide. For civil engineering
applications, bituminous mate-rials include primarily aphalts and tars. Asphalts may occur in
nature (natural asphalts) or may be obtained from petroleum processing (petroleum asphalts).
Tars do not occur in nature and are obtained as conden-sates in the processing of coal,
petroleum, oil-shale, wood or other organic materials. Pitch is formed when a tar is partially
distilled so that the volatile constituents have evaporated off from it. Bituminous mixtures are
generally used to denote the combinations of bituminous materials (as binders), aggregates
and additives.

This article presents the basic principles and practices of the usage of bituminous materials
and mixtures in pavement construction. In recent years, the use of tars in highway
construction has been very limited due to the concern with the possible emission of hazardous
flumes when tars are heated.

Applications of Bitumen
One of the most important uses for geotextiles is as a filter in drainage and erosion control
applications. Drainage examples include trench and French drains, interceptor drains, blanket
drains, pavement edge drains, and structural drains, to name just a few. Permanent erosion
control applications include coastal and lakeshore revetments, stream and canal banks, cut
and fill slope protection, and scour protection. In all these applications, geotextiles are used to
replace graded granular filters used in conjunction with the drainage aggregate, perforated
pipe, rip rap, and so on. When properly designed, geotextiles can provide comparable
performance at less cost, provide consistent filtration characteristics, and they are easier and
therefore cheaper to install. Although erosion control technically does not improve the soil,
prevention of both external and internal erosion in residual and structured soils is an
important design consideration.

Geotextiles can also be used to temporarily control and minimize erosion or transport of
sediment from unprotected construction sites. In some cases, geotextiles provide temporary
protection after seeding and mulching but before vegetative ground cover can be established.
Geotextiles may also be used as armor materials in diversion ditches and at the ends of
culverts to prevent erosion. Probably the most common application is for silt fences, which
are a substitute for hay bales or brush piles, to remove suspended particles from sedimentladen runoff water.

Filtration Design Concepts: For a geotextile to satisfactorily replace a graded granular filter,
it must perform the same functions as a graded granular filter:

Prevent soil particles from going into suspension

Allow soil particles already in suspension to pass the filter (to prevent clogging or blinding);
and
Have a sufficiently high permeability and flow rate so that no back pressure develops in the
soil being protected.
The factors that control the design and performance of a geotextile filter are

Physical properties of the geotextile

Soil characteristics
Hydraulic conditions, and
External stress conditions

The level of design required depends on the critical nature of the project and the severity of
the hydraulic and soil conditions. Especially for critical projects, consideration of the risks
involved and the consequences of possible failure of the geotextile filter require great care in
selecting the appropriate geotextile. For such projects and for severe hydraulic conditions,
very conservative designs are recommended. As the cost of the geotextile is usually a minor
part of the total project or system cost, geotextile selection should not be based on the lowest
material cost. Also, expenses should not be reduced by eliminating laboratory soilgeotextile
performance testing when such testing is recommended by the design procedure.

The three design criteria which must be satisfied are

Soil retention (piping resistance)

Permeability, and
Clogging criteria
For both permeability and clogging, different approaches are recommended for critical/severe
applications. Furthermore, laboratory filtration tests must be performed to determine clogging
resistance. It is not sufficient to simply rely on retention and permeability to control clogging
potential. Finally, mechanical and index property requirements for durability and
constructibility are given. Constructibility is sometimes called survivability, and it depends
on the installation conditions. The best geotextile filter design in the world is useless if the
geotextile does not survive the construction operations.

Applications of bituminous materials:

Prefabricated Drains In the last few years, prefabricated geocomposite drainage materials
have become available as a substitute for conventional drains with and without geotextiles.
Geocomposites are probably most practical for lateral drainage situations geocomposites is
the use of prefabricated vertical (wick) drains to accelerate the consolidation of soft
compressible cohesive soil layers. Because they are much less expensive to install,
geocomposite drains have made conventional sand drains obsolete.
Composition of Bitumen
Materials in bituminous family are:

1) Tar:
Coal tar is a brown or dark black liquid of high viscosity, which smells of naphthalene and
aromatic hdydrocarbons. Being flammable, coal tar is sometime used for heating or to fire
boilers. It can be used in coal tar soap, and is used in medicated shampoo to kill and repel
head lice, and as a treatment for dandruff.

Depending upon its source of origin, TAR is classified as:

2) Coal Tar:
It is the liquid by-product of the distillation of coal to make coke. The gaseous by-product of
this process is commonly known as town gas. It is used for coating of wooden poles and
sleepers, iron poles.

3) Wood Tar:
See Also - Related See also: Construction Wood Properties

It is obtained by the distillation of resinous wood. Wood tar contains creosote and as such has
strong preservative properties. Search for "resin" in the above search box.

4) Mineral Tar:
It is obtained by the distillation of bituminous shale.

5) Coal Tar Pitch:

It is the residue of the direct distillation of crude tar produced by the high temperature
carbonization of coal. It is used as a water proofing compound in masonry, steel and timber
structure. It is also used for water proofing concrete structures.

Chemical Composition of Bitumen:

Molecular weight wise, bitumen is a mixture of about 300 - 2000 chemical components, with
an average of around 500 - 700. Elementally, it is around 95% carbon and hydrogen ( 87%
carbon and 8% hydrogen), and up to 5% sulfur, 1% nitrogen, 1% oxygen and 2000ppm
metals. Bitumens are composed mainly of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons. They also contain several elements, a number of which are toxic.

Chemical Components in bitumen are:

Asphaltenes
Resinous components (polar aromatics)
Non-polar aromatics (naphtene aromatics) and
Saturates

Properties of Bitumen
See Also - Related See also: Applications of Bitumen

Bitumen Laboratory Tests

Adhesion: Bitumen has the ability to adhere to a solid surface in a fluid state depending on
the nature of the surface. The presence of water on the surface will prevent adhesion.

Resistance to Water: Bitumen is water resistant. Under some conditions water may be
absorbed by minute quantities of inorganic salts in the bitumen or filler in it.

Hardness: To measure the hardness of bitumen, the penetration test is conducted, which
measures the depth of penetration in tenths of mm. of a weighted needle in bitumen after a
given time, at a known temperature. Commonly a weight of 100 gm is applied for 5 sec at a
temperature of 77 F. The penetration is a measure of hardness. Typical results are 10 for hard
coating asphalt, 15 to 40 for roofing asphalt and up to 100 or more for water proofing
bitumen.

Viscosity and Flow: The viscous or flow properties of bitumen are of importance both at high
temperature during processing and application and at low temperature to which bitumen is
subjected during service. The flow properties of bitumens vary considerably with temperature
and stress conditions. Deterioration, or loss of the desirable properties of bitumen, takes the
form of hardening. Resultantly, decrease in adhesive and flow properties and an increase in
the softening point temperature and coefficient of thermal expansion.

Softening point: Softening point is the temperature at which a steel ball falls a known
distance through the bitumen when the test assembly is heated at a known rate. Usually the
test consist of a (3/8)in dia steel ball, weight 3.5 gm, which is allowed to sink through a (5/8)
in dia, (1/4) in thick disk of bitumen in a brass ring. The whole assembly is heated at a rate of
9 F per min. Typical values would be 240 F for coating grade asphalts, 140 F to 220 F for
roofing asphalt and down to 115 F for bituminous water proofing material.

Ductility: Ductility test is conducted to determine the amount bitumen will stretch at
temperature below its softening point.
A briquette having a cross sectional area of 1 in2 is placed in a tester at 77 F. Ductility
values ranges from 0 to over 150 depending on the type of bitumen.