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Bituminous Mix Design for Pavement –

Types, Materials and Properties
Home » Bituminous Mix Design for Pavement – Types, Materials and Properties

A pre-planned bituminous mix design for pavement construction helps in

producing a mix that is workable, durable, strong, and economical in nature.
One of the widespread use of bitumen is in the pavement design and
construction.

There are mainly two stages of mix design in bringing a bituminous

pavement:
o Dry Mix Design

o Wet Mix Design

In the bitumen mix design, we will determine the:

o Proportion of bitumen

o The fine aggregates required for the pavement design and construction

o The coarse aggregates for the construction

o The filler materials required

Objective of Bituminous Mix Design

The main objective of the bituminous mix design is to proportion various
components for pavement construction to achieve the following objectives:

o To obtain a durable pavement, sufficient amount of bitumen is

required
o Adequate strength must be provided to obtain resistance against the
shear deformation under higher temperatures.
o Additional voids have to be incorporated to facilitate the compaction
performed by the traffic
o The placement must be performed with ease which will demand
sufficient workability
o The premature cracking in the bitumen pavement can be avoided by
providing sufficient flexibility for the bitumen.
o The flexibility must be attained at smaller temperatures so that the
shrinkage cracks can be avoided.

Main Constituents of Bitumen Mix

The main constituents of a bitumen mix for pavement construction are:

o Coarse and Fine Aggregates

o Filler

o Binder

The coarse aggregates are known for their abrasion resistance and
toughness. These aggregates offer compressive and shear strength to the
mix. These also facilitates good interlocking properties between aggregates.
Examples for this type of aggregates are granites.

The fine aggregates fill the voids in the mix created by the coarse
aggregates and provide stiffening to the binder. Examples of fine aggregates
used are sand and rock dust.

Fillers play the role of filling the voids, they help in stiffening the binder and
offer higher permeability. Example for this type of fillers are cement, lime
and rock dust.

Binders also play the role of filling the voids. These help to undergo particle
adhesion and for gluing purpose. This hence increases the impermeability
property of the pavement. Example for this type of the binder are bitumen,
tar, and asphalt.
 Types of Bitumen Mixes
There are different types of mix that can be prepared. They Involve:

o Open-graded bituminous mix

o Well graded bituminous mix

o Gap-graded bituminous mix

o Unbounded bituminous mix

In case of Open-Graded Mix, the filler and the finer aggregates are absent.
These mixes are porous in nature and offer good frictional properties. This
lower the strength if the pavement is constructed for a high-speed pavement
construction.
Gap-Graded Bituminous Mix: As the name implies, large coarse
aggregates are missing in these types of mix. This has good fatigue property
as well as tensile strength.
 Well – Graded Mix: A well-graded mix is a dense mix. These have all
ranges of aggregates and are sufficiently packed. This facilitate the proper
filling of voids in a systematic manner. These types of mix offer good
compressive strength and tensile strength.

Layers in a Bituminous Pavement

The different layers that is involved in a bituminous pavement are:

o Base Course

o Binder Course

o Concrete layer of bitumen or asphalt

The layer of mineral aggregates like gravel, stones, and sand together form
the bituminous base course layer. This layer is treated as the foundation for
the laying the binder and the surface course.

The bituminous binder course is the second layer above the base course
which act as the first layer of bitumen. This is done in a two-layer
resurfacing. This is also called as a leveling course.
 The third layer is the concrete form of bitumen or asphalt. The bituminous
concrete is a combination of aggregates that is continuously graded from the
maximum size which is mainly less than 25mm to the fine filler of size
smaller than 0.075mm to make the mix sufficiently impervious. This
provides a layer will have acceptable levels of dissipative and elastic
properties.

Basic Requirements of a Bituminous Mix

The main and essential features a bitumen mix must possess are explained
below:

o Good Stability

o Good Durability

o Workability

o Skid Resistance

o Flexibility

Stability of Bitumen Mix

The resistance of the pavement towards the deformation under action of
vehicle or the dynamic load is the called as the stability of the bitumen mix.
The main two examples of failure caused in the bitumen pavement due to
lack of stability are:

o Shoving
o Grooving

The areas in the pavement under severe action of acceleration gain a rigid
deformation in the traverse direction. This is called as shoving. The
channelization of the traffic will result in the formation of a longitudinal
ridging which is called as grooving.

The stability of the bitumen pavement is influenced by the following

parameters:
o Interparticle friction between the aggregates

o The cohesion offered within the bitumen

o Bond within all the particles

Stability is determined by sufficient bonding between the particles. This

require adequate amount of binder so that it coats the particles at the time
when it offers friction. There are also chances to have a lower value of
stability when the binder content is large and the particles of the mix are
kept apart without any kind of bond.

Durability of the Bitumen Mix

The resistance of the mix against the external weathering and abrasive
actions can be called as the durability property. The wheel loads with high
abrasion action on the pavement result in the formation of tensile strains.
Lack of durability of the pavement result in the following failures:

o Pot Holes

o Stripping

Pot holes is the local deterioration and stripping is the failure that expose all
the aggregates. Higher binder content help in reducing the chances of
disintegration to some extend.

Skid Resistance of Bituminous Pavement

The skid resistance is the resistance of the pavement against the skidding
action of the vehicle. This is mainly related to the surface texture of the
 pavement. The bitumen content also influences this property to a large
extend. In high-speed traffic conditions, this is an essential factor to be
considered. An open-graded coarse surface will help in providing maximum
skid resistance.

Workability of the bituminous mix

A bituminous mix have to be easily handled for its proper placement and
compaction. This can be only performed if there is sufficient workability for
the mix. This property will let the mix to take adequate shape and condition.

The workability of the mix depends on the following factors:

o The aggregate type – angular, flaky and elongates

o The content of bitumen

o The gradation of aggregates

o Shape and texture of the aggregates

o Type of bitumen

Flexibility of Bitumen Mix

The level of bending strength required to counteract the traffic load is called
as the flexibility property. This is the one that will help in preventing the
cracking surface of the pavement. The fracture is the cracks that is formed
on the surface. The reason behind these fractures are the shrinkage and
brittleness of the binder.

The repeated bending of the surface due to the traffic loads over it result in
the brittleness. Flexibility is increased with higher bitumen content.

Some of the desirable properties required by a bitumen mix are:

o Proper binding of the particles present in the bitumen mix. This
facilitate waterproofing properties.
o The traffic demand has to meet adequately by having sufficient
stability
o The bitumen mix have to be economical
o The bitumen mix must have sufficient workability to help construction
procedures
o Voids must me intentionally left so that compaction during traffic can
be performed
o The mix must be flexible to face the changing temperature conditions

Read More:
Why is Bitumen Used in Road Construction? Properties and
Advantage of Bitumen for Pavements
Types of Bitumen Mixes for Pavement Construction and their
Applications
Different Types of Bitumen, their Properties and Uses
Various Lab Tests on Bitumen for Pavement Construction
Bituminous Materials – Types, Properties and Uses in Construction
Processes in Bituminous Road Construction