Paper ID 310

SUSTAINABLE ASPHALT PAVING TECHNOLOGY FOR HAUL ROADS IN AMAZON REGION

OF BRAZIL

Joo MERIGHI Rita FORTES

Technical Director Executive Director
Latersolo Servios de Engenharia Ltda, So Paulo Latersolo Servios de Engenharia Ltda, So Paulo
Brazil Brazil
jmerighi@terra.com.br ritamfortes@gmail.com
Waheed UDDIN
Professor of Civil Engineering
University of Mississippi
USA
cvuddin@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The tropical Amazon region hosts 50% of the planets biodiversity, includes nine countries in South
America, and 45% of the Brazilian territory. The Brazilian portion represents 54% or 3.8 million km2 of the
total tropical area. Only recently this region started road and transportation development as the export
demand grew for huge mineral wealth in the Brazilian Amazon. Pavement technology and paving standards
were developed and implemented by the So Paulo DOT for mostly subtropical environment region. In
contrast, this paving technology is not suitable for the Amazon region. Consequently, many roads recently
built using subtropical paving technology were destroyed rapidly in Amazonia due to the severe weather
conditions. To achieve sustainability special care is needed to reduce energy consumption in the construction
process, as well as to reduce wastage of scarce natural aggregate sources. This paper presents the study of
alternative paving technologies for this tropical part of the world considering the use of local soil and
aggregate mixture as base of pavement and the use of warm asphalt technology to conserve energy. The
paper presents favorable experience in using this sustainable asphalt technology with minimum
environmental impacts for the construction and maintenance management of a haul road site serving the
bauxite mine and Trombetas Port, located in the middle of the Brazilian Amazon region.

Keywords: Pavement, Design, Amazon, Aggregate, Tropical Soils, Warm Asphalt.

INTRODUCTION

Multimodal Transportation Development in Amazon to Export Mineral Ores

The Amazonia tropical region includes the entire group of water bodies which form the Amazon River basin.
About 50% of the planets biodiversity thrives within this region. The entire region comprises of
approximately 7 million km2 and spreads over a vast area of South America. Figure 1 shows the amazon
region bounded by nine countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Equator, Guyana, France Guyana, Peru,
Suriname and Venezuela. The Brazilian portion represents 54% or 3.8 million km2 of the total tropical area,
and 45% of the Brazilian territory is inside the Amazon region. This tropical region experiences extreme
rainfall for eight months (December until July), every day, morning (9 am), afternoon (3 pm) and night too.
The rainfall is around 2,000 mm (80 in) per year. The air temperature range is generally 24C (75F) to
35C (95F). During other months the weather is dry. Tropical forests are global treasures of biodiversity

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and natural carbon storage for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) effects on climate impacts and weather
related disasters.
The Amazon region is just one of a few parts of the world where development has been restricted to
protect the tropical forests. The Brazilian government has been committed to minimum disturbance to the
environment and living life style of local tribes. Keeping this goal there has not been much civil construction
and illegal logging and deforestation is monitored round the year. The Brazilian Amazonia region was
virtually isolated from the world for a long time and had little infrastructure built. The Brazilian Amazon
only recently began the integration of this region to provide connectivity with transportation corridors to
cope with the export demand of huge mineral wealth that was discovered in this territory of Brazil.

Objectives

The main objective of this paper is to review the sustainability challenges for constructing transportation
infrastructure needed to exploit the natural mineral wealth in the Amazon region, while maximizing the use
of local materials and minimizing damage to the natural environment. A case study is presented for the
integration of transportation modes to achieve the objective and implementation of warm mix asphalt
technology to reduce energy consumption in road construction and maintenance.

Figure 1: Amazon region involving nine countries in South America

The discovery of minerals in Amazonian region such as bauxite, gold, and iron, has been followed by a
rush of companies to the region to work in the mineral extraction and export industry. Essentially, there has
not been any significant paved transport infrastructure. Associated with the lack of mobility, there is the
harsh climate, with high and long periods of intense rainfall and high temperatures. The paper discusses
special care that was adopted to develop heavy duty haul road and provide connectivity with the North
America and other countries. This strategy considered environmental sustainability to avoid damage to the
biodiversity of the region, reduce environmental disruptions, and maintain the hauling demand of the mine
without delays to the production and export targets.

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Amazon Region Characteristics

The topography of the Amazon region is relatively flat. The variation of ground elevations is 30 to 220 m
(~100 to 722 ft) above the mean sea level. The paved road density is the lowest in the Country at
approximately 0.009 km/km2. However, there are two other multimodal forms of mobility: river
transportation by boat/ships and flying by airplane (de Souza, 2010). The following important ground
realities and characteristics of this region in Brazil are related to soil and climate (Frota et al., 2010; Fortes
and Merighi, 2003):
There are no rock quarries and no stone deposits.
Lateritic soils are abundant that cannot be classified using standard index tests.
Expansible soils are common.
Soils exhibit high rates of shrinkage and expansion.
Low mechanical resistance is shown by the soils.
Erodibility of soil formation is a big concern.

The climatic conditions in this tropical region are extreme:

High temperatures Long rainy periods High humidity

The ambient temperature regime is very high all around the year. The amplitude is great and the range is
about 24C (75F) to 42C (107F). There is no long dry season, but from August to November, there is
some dry periods of 1-2 weeks without rain. In terms of other seasonal characteristics, the Amazon region is
subject to eight months of rain. Rainfall occurs every day (in the months of December to July), during the
morning hours (around 09:00 a.m.), in the afternoon (around 03:00 p.m.), and in the evening hours too.
Consequently, the rainfall is around 2,000 mm (80 inches) per year. Figure 2 compares the variations of the
river level in Summer (November-December) and Spring (May-June), which are typical of tropical climate
in the southern hemisphere. In Spring months of rainy season the river level is much higher compared to that
in Summer months. In general, the variation between high and low water level in the river is around 15 m.
Recall, Brazil is in southern hemisphere so the Spring and Summer periods are opposite of what people are
accustomed to the northern hemisphere as in North America.

Figure 2: Trombetas River in June (left) and in November (right)

THE BAUXITE MINE NEAR TROMBETAS RIVER PORT

Amazonia is still a strange and unique region for Brazilians. There is little literature available about terrain
and native habitats. Everyday scientists discover new animal species, new rivers, new vegetables and flora,
and other forms of biodiversity. However, it is known that there is still much to be discovered. A few
decades ago, important minerals such as bauxite, iron and gold were discovered in many areas of this region.

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Bauxite Mine of Rio do Norte

In the region north of the Amazon River, lots of bauxite deposits were discovered in the 1970s. This is an
important aluminum ore and boasts high industrial demand in North America, Europe, and China. The
bauxite mine, named Minerao Rio do Norte (MRN) briefly, started its operations in 1979 (de Souza,
2010). The mine is located in the north of the Amazon river, 350 km below the country of Suriname (Figure
3). Figure 4 shows a typical soil profile of the bauxite mine area.

Figure 3: Location map of MRN bauxite mine area

0.5m Organic soil

8.0m Yellow clay

2.5m Nodular bauxite

4.0m Bauxite Clay and sand

Figure 4: Typical subsoil profile in MRN bauxite mine area

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Detail Description of Mine Operations

The following details of MRN bauxite mine operations are followed by the mine operator (de Souza, 2010):
Excavation of 30 million tons of ore per year
Export of 18 million tons of bauxite per year
1400 Trucks/day each 55 ton- truck per minute
13 Trains per day with 47 wagon (80 ton per wagon)
1 Bauxite transport ship per day
Operations 24 hours per day; 365 days per year (most of the time)

Figures 5-6 illustrate the surface transport modes of trucks, rail and trains. Figure 7 shows typical bulk
ships and the river channel used to transport the ore to the Atlantic Ocean ports for shipping to destinations
abroad. This efficient multimodal integration of ore freight transportation ensures the optimum use of each
transportation mode with minimum emissions and environmental disruptions to the land and biodiversity. In
this paper a case study is presented to investigate the rupture of the access road pavement serving bauxite
mine to the rail station and the Trombetas river port.

Figure 5: Typical truck to transport bauxite ore by Figure 6: Rail infrastructure (13 trains per day
haul road (gross weight of 55 tons) with 47 wagon per train)

Figure 7: River port facilities (8 Ships used per day to transport bauxite to Atlantic Ocean ports for
shipping to destination abroad)

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THE DESIGN OF PAVEMENT STRUCTURE FOR THE HAUL ROAD

To meet the demand of heavy freight truck traffic volume, a projected design period of ten years was used
for designing the thickness of the pavement structure. The pavement structure for the mine haul road is
presented in Table 1. The haul road was built in 2010-2011. The road was opened to haul truck traffic in
October of 2011, with an extension of 4.5 km, in the Amazon tropical forest which was still in a period of
low rainfall. The typical truck used to transport bauxite is shown in Figure 8. The total ore cargo is around
55 tons per truck and the typical truck volume is 1400 vehicles per day (de Souza, 2010).

Table 1: Details of pavement structure to carry 1400 trucks per day during 10 years (de Souza, 2010)

Layer Thickness Material Type

Pavement Layer Pavement Materials
cm (inch) Strength
Surface Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) 9 (3.5) Rubber Asphalt
Base Soil Treated with 2% Portland Cement 40 (15.8) CBR 80
Subbase Local Lateritic Soil 40 (15.8) CBR 40
Subgrade Compacted Foundation Soil Semi-infinite CBR 13

Figure 8: Axle configuration of a typical truck used in the bauxite mine

In January 2012, two months after the road was opened to traffic, the first sign of distresses (pathologies)
appeared on the pavement surface. Alligator cracks and raveling (Figures 9 and 10) cropped up after 7
months of service life on more than 56% of all pavement areas (Miller and Bellinger, 2014; Merighi and
Fortes, 2013). Aiming to maintain the trafficability of the road, the first reconstruction of the pavement was
undertake on some segments of the road in March of 2011, already in the rainy season, as shown in Figure
11. The total asphalt rubber layer (9 cm) was removed and it was repaved with a 9 cm thick rubber asphalt
layer (Merighi and Fortes, 2013). It was very important that the mine operation never stopped. So, during the
repair period, the stop and go operation was implemented on the road, to prevent any pause in the
production and transportation of bauxite. Any intervention on the road was carried out according to a
logistics plan to avoid any loss of ore production.

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Figure 9: Alligator cracks throughout the road Figure 10: Raveling & rubber pieces

PAVEMENT FAILURES AND DIAGNOSIC EVALUATION

Field Studies

Motivated by the consistent increase of the pathologies (distresses) on the pavement (Figures 9 and 10) and
fearing the occurrence of the total failure again, a diagnostic evaluation was made to identify the probable
causes. The purpose was to understand what was happening and establish if it was a design problem or
construction error. The diagnosis was made in July of 2012 when the rainy season was finishing. The
following sequence of activities was undertaken:
1. Inventory of surface pavement conditions by visual inspection, such as: permanent deformation in
wheel path, raveling or in other defects, progressive loss of pavement layer materials, potholes,
alligators cracks, etc.
2. Coring of the pavement layers to extract specimen (Figures 11) and testing for: thickness, splitting
tensile strength, resilient modulus, grain-size distribution, permeability, Marshall characteristics,
physical indexes, etc.;
3. Plates were cut out of the coating for laboratory tests and in situ testing with portable plate
deflection tests.
4. Nondestructive tests were conducted using a beam Benkelman with a dual axle truck loaded to 35
tons (there is no standard method for this condition), as shown in Figure 12.
5. The existing asphalt plant at the site was calibrated and adjusted to the new asphalt mix design.
Figure 13 shows paving operation.

Figure 11: (left) Coring of the pavement layers and Figure 11: (right) Reconstruction
extraction of specimens of rubber asphalt layer, March 2011

Structural Response Analysis

The one-layer Boussinesq linear elastic model was used for initial structural response analysis. Subsequent
analysis was made using the Elsym5 software for five pavement layers. The analytical results, considering
the results of the test samples extracted from the road, showed that the asphalt layer thickness was
insufficient. The project specified 9 cm of rubber asphalt and the diagnostic structural evaluation
recommended 15 cm of hot mix asphalt layer. The Amazon region presents other peculiarities that can
influence the life of the pavement.

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Figure 12: Beam Benkelman using truck with dual axle and 35 tons

Figure 13: Paving mix asphalt wheel path (left); Applying water to cool down (right)

It is important to mention the occurrence of the heavy rainfall in the region, which promotes the raveling
in the pavement and/or removal of the asphalt film surrounding the aggregate. The phenomena of truck tire
abrasion on the pavement surface, associated with truck overloads and heavy rains, promote accelerated
surface wearing. Consequently, the disaggregation of gravels and the occurrence of the potholes are
observed. This distress mechanism is heightened, when a large truck traffic volume of 1400 vehicles per day
is always going in the same direction fully loaded.
Another major problem in the Amazon region is the high temperature regime. Temperatures ranging
between 60o to 70oC in the pavement for at least six hours per day were observed. To attain the performance
under these high temperatures, asphalt binders with a high softening point must be used. On the subject road,
the asphalt rubber had a softening point of 50oC. This asphalt binder deficiency led to the emergence of
permanent deformation.
The investigation of the final design report shows a mistake in the analysis of the tensile stress on the
bottom of the asphalt layer. Considering the modulus values of the pavement materials, the tensile stress of
0.50 to 0.60 MPa was calculated. The project designers recommended 0.25 MPa. These findings supported
the load related mechanism involved in premature failures. Detailed results are not presented for brevity.

REHABILITATION OF ROAD AND IN-SERVICE PERFORMANCE

During the month of August 2012, the team studied solutions for preventing the failure of the road pavement
and consequently collapse of the export operation of bauxite for some parts of the world. In September of
2012 the mine staff decided that the pavement would begin immediate rehabilitation starting the 1st of
October. Considering the state of the damage the repair intervention was accomplished in 3 periods: October
to December of 2012, 2013, and 2014. It was based on a matrix of investment and impact on the bauxite
production in case of pavement failure. Available time to do all repair was 20 days during 6 hours per day
and with no interruption to traffic. Due to the short time frame for completion of the service, which should
be done in periods of low rainfall incidence, no contract competition was held. It was decided that the

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rehabilitation treatment would be carried out using the same contractor that had performed services in the
local area already. It is important to observe that the repair would be made only on a wheel path of loaded
truck travel because of the short time allowed to do the repair.
The team evaluated many asphalt technologies existing in Brazil, and selected warm mix asphalt (WMA)
technology taking into account the aggregate characteristics existing in the local and easy application of the
technology using simple equipment. The following findings were observed:
Good performance in terms of adhesion of coarse aggregate to bituminous materials
Softening Point of bitumen (ring and ball) around 850-900oC.
Splitting tensile strength of 1.2 MPa (obtained for coarse aggregate available).
Reduction of equipment for asphalt compaction and less energy consumption. (In this technology
only a vibratory steel drum compactor is necessary for compaction of the asphalt layer.)

Furthermore, the senior author had already used this technology in Angola, in adverse weather
conditions, in a region of high temperature. The WMA technology was used for the construction of the
Saurimo airport and road to the diamond mine in Angola. Important consideration on the Amazon mine road
site was that all truck drivers normally travel in the same position with respect to the lane edge. Despite the
width of the road being 5.60 m for each lane, the wheel path occurs in the middle of the road. Briefly, the
steps for the rehabilitation/repair intervention were:
Milling a strip around 100 to 300 cm in the wheel path; cleaning the track with the air jet.
One or two layer(s) of WMA because the thickness was not 9 cm in some parts of the road but only
5 or 6 cm.
After the WMA compaction, the asphalt layer was cooled with water (Figure 13).
Road opening for traffic after one hour.

In terms of logistics a study was made to find the most efficient way to transport the asphalt material in a
short time to the road site. There is no road or railroad to access the city where the mine is located. Only
boat and aircraft are used for transporting goods and people. However, there is only one airline company
operating in the Port of Trombetas because the runway is very short (runway length = 1400 m). Some
characteristics in terms of mobility in Amazon region are:
Aircraft: operating in the Trombetas airport only for passenger and small cargo boxes.
Waterway is the other mode of mobility: boat to Belm city (far ~1000 km).

Generally one can spend at least a week by boat. For example, Marshall equipment was transported in
21 days from So Paulo city. There is only one boat available at an interval of several days. A typical
cargo/passenger boat departs at 5pm on Tuesday and if it is missed, one needs to wait many days for the next
boat. There are no other transport infrastructure assets. All materials/equipment take at least a week by boat
plus 4 or 5 days for access to boat terminal (more than 3000 km) from the south of Brazil.
After two years of haul truck operations on the rehabilitated road, good performance was observed on
the repaired strip of the road using the warm asphalt mix. The first and second round of repairs showed good
performance, in particular, in terms of friction and/or adherence wheel/pavement. The third cycle of repair in
some areas was made in October 2014.

SUSTAINABILITY DIMENSIONS

The following environmental sustainability dimensions of the road construction and rehabilitation have been
achieved for the case study of haul road for mining operation in Amazonia, as follows:
Reducing transportation related emissions by using only mine to rail transport operation by trucks
and integration with river port and ore freight ships. Transportation related CO2 and other emissions
are several times lower by train and ships compared to trucks (Springer, 2012).
Decreasing demand on natural resources of construction materials and less adverse impacts on the
environment by using the local soil and ore waste.

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Reducing energy consumption due to avoidance of crushed aggregate and use of WMA technology.
Minimizing environmental impacts due to the vehicular traffic and runoff from pavement surface.
Avoiding environmental degradation and associated costs due to less air pollution and water quality
degradation that impact biodiversity and the habitats of the local indigenous population.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The Amazon region was distant from development that occurred in recent centuries in other subtropic parts
of Brazil. Only recently mineral ores such as bauxite (aluminum ore) has been exploited to meet the export
demand with great effort to reduce carbon footprint and avoid other environmental and biodiversity
disruptions. This paper presented the diagnostic evaluation of the premature rupture and failures of the
access haul road to bauxite mines and the final repaving solution with warm mix asphalt. Further, it is shown
that the warm mix asphalt paving technology, used for repairing the haul road in this study, can be
implemented in adverse hot and humid conditions. Additionally, it can improve haul road pavement
performance with lesser maintenance requirements compared to unpaved haul roads.
The paper discusses the success of this sustainable solution considering the high temperature of the
pavement surface during several hours per day. The major findings are, as follows:
It was the first time that the repairs were done only in the wheel path of the haul road.
The warm asphalt mix showed good performance for fatigue resistance associated with the tensile
strain, permanent deformation in a region with high temperatures, and asphalt-aggregate adhesion.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors appreciate the Mining Company for permission to use the data presented in this paper. The
contents of this paper reflect the views of the authors who are responsible for the facts, findings, and data
presented herein.

REFERENCES

Frota, Consuelo Alves da, Nunes, F.R.G., Guimares Daniela Muniz DAntona, de Souza, Reginaldo Jos
Queiroz, and Fortes, Rita Moura, 2010. The reuse of construction and demolitions materials as a
substitute for pebbles taken from river bed in the Amazon (Brazil) for use as aggregate in asphalt
mixtures. IJP - International Journal of Pavements, ISSN 1676-2797, Vol.9, No.1, 2, 3, pp 79-86.
Fortes, Rita Moura and Merighi, Joo V., 2003. The use of MCT methodology for rapid classification of
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