9 August 2018

Subject: Kandhal Q and A Series on “Asphalt in India” (Part 4) – Bitumen content of

bituminous paving mixes in India

Dear Highway Colleagues:

I had solicited questions from you on “Asphalt in India” so that I can attempt to answer them.
This is Kandhal Q and A Series on “Asphalt in India” (Part 4) – Bitumen content of
bituminous paving mixes in India
Many questions have been lumped together to make this Q and A comprehensive.

Question
A bituminous wearing course consisting of BC Grading 2 was placed three years ago on an
existing road. The job-mix formula (JMF) of the BC mix was 5.4 percent. Recently, cores
were taken and extracted to determine the bitumen content which was determined to be 4.9
percent (deficient by 0.5 percent). My senior engineer says it is not unusual because the
bitumen content in the in-situ mix can decrease (a) due to traffic which wears off the road
surface and (b) bitumen binder has oxidized (hardened) in service and does not show
entirely as bitumen in the solvent extraction process.
Answer
Your senior engineer is absolutely wrong. When first laid, the aggregate at the road surface is
black because it has a very thin (a few microns thick) coating of bitumen, which wears off due to
traffic action in first 2-3 months and aggregate is exposed. The bitumen lost in this process may
amount to 0.02 - 0.03 percent of total mix, which is negligible.

On the second point, no matter how hard the aged bitumen is, it always shows up as bitumen in
the extraction process. In the US, I had evaluated the bitumen aging process on roads for over 10
years. The bitumen content did not change due to traffic action or aging process.

Measured bitumen content can only be lower than that actually put in the mix, if mix sample has
been obtained from a road area which is exhibiting significant surface raveling (loss of fine
aggregate) under traffic due to lack of proper compaction and/or deficient bitumen content. This
happens because significant amount of bitumen is also lost along with the fine aggregate when
raveling occurs.

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Question

What should we do when the road surface is raveled?

Answer

Raveling usually takes place in wheel track areas due to direct traffic action. Therefore, take road
samples near the edge of the road, which hardly has any raveling. It is recommended to take 150-
mm diameter cores (rather than 100-mm diameter cores) which would give more mix material
for extraction. To minimize the effect of core cutting on extracted mix gradation, warm the core
and trim off about 5-10 mm mix around the core with a spatula to eliminate cut aggregate
particles.

Question

BC Grading 2 mix was designed using Marshall Mix Design Method. The gradation met
the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH) specification requirements.
However, the optimum bitumen content of 5.2% was obtained whereas the MORTH
requirement is 5.4% minimum. If I use the MORTH specified minimum bitumen content,
the wearing course is likely to bleed/rut under traffic.

Answer

Yes, you are right. The minimum bitumen contents in the MORTH specifications are about 0.2 –
0.3 percent on the high side. This was done on the premise (by some engineers) that most paving
contractors put less bitumen than the JMF during actual production. These high minimum
bitumen contents, therefore, provide some cushion to be on safe side. The problem is that some
honest paving contractors have to suffer from these higher minimum bitumen contents.

Those honest paving contractors then try to increase the mix VMA by reducing the amount of
fines (75 micron material) and/or changing the mix gradation. To a certain extent these steps are
acceptable. However, in extreme cases these steps can be counterproductive and the mix may rut.
For example, it is not recommended to reduce the amount of fines (75 micron material) less than
4 percent so as to ensure the stiffness of bitumen-fines mortar to resist rutting. Also, the mix
VMA should never ever exceed more than 2 percent above the specified minimum VMA. For
example, for 13.2 mm nominal maximum aggregate size (NMAS) mix, the minimum VMA at
4% air voids is 14 percent. The designed mix should not exceed 16% VMA otherwise the mix
would rut.

When the preceding problems are faced, the government engineers should review the mix design
thoroughly and should make exceptions on minimum bitumen contents if so warranted.

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Question

Why the minimum allowable bitumen content for Stone Matrix Asphalt (SMA) is 5.8%,
much higher than BC Grading 2?

Answer

SMA is a gap graded bituminous mix which is purposely made deficient in fine aggregate so that
its strength is obtained from stone-on-stone contact of coarse aggregate particles. This results in
high void content between aggregate particles, which is filled with high fines content (75-micron
material as much as 12%) and high bitumen content. The latter gives SMA higher durability
compared to BC mix. Despite being a gap graded mix with high VMA, SMA is as impervious to
water as BC mix because it is also designed at 4.0% air voids.

Question

Is premature raveling of bituminous pavements generally due to deficient bitumen

content?

Answer

Yes, that is one of the main causes. However, if raveling takes place soon after the hot mix
paving, the most likely cause is lack of adequate compaction (that is, in-situ air voids over 10-12
percent). If the mix also has deficient bitumen content, raveling phenomenon is accentuated.

Unfortunately, it is common in India that many paving contractors (except most NH projects) use
0.5 to 1 percent less bitumen than that given in the JMF. This results in low durability of such
paving projects which may start to develop raveling/potholing within 3-4 years. This shows lack
of quality control/quality assurance by road authorities and therefore needs to be addressed as
soon as possible.

Question

I have a semi dense bituminous concrete (SDBC) wearing course which has failed
prematurely. How can I evaluate it in terms of bitumen content and compaction (in-situ air
voids)?

Answer

First of all, you should not have used SDBC which is a “semi dense” mix and is prone to be
permeable to water. That is why; based on an Indian Roads Congress paper authored by me and
Prof. Veeraragavan of IIT Madras, MORTH deleted the undesirable SDBC “quietly” from their
2013 Specifications (Orange Book). MORTH should have alerted the state road authorities not to

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use SDBC because it has been deleted from specifications. Unfortunately, they have not done it
as yet to the detriment of our roads across India because SDBC is still widely used.

Now, that you have used SDBC which is only 25 mm thick, it is difficult to test it for bitumen
content and density. For bitumen content, you may have to take at least 5 cores close to each
other and combine the mix to conduct “one” extraction test. To conduct 5 such tests, you have to
obtain 25 cores.

Before determining bitumen content, you must determine the bulk specific gravity of all 5 cores
by taking their weights in air and under water. Then, determine the average of 5 tests to give
“one” density result. Do not measure the in-situ density of SDBC by the sand replacement
method, which is being done by some state PWDs who are still living in the 19th Century.

Question

Why are we designing bituminous mixes for city streets with 75 blows of Marshall hammer
when there is hardly any truck traffic? This unnecessarily results in lower JMF bitumen
content.

Answer

That is a very good observation. I live in Jaipur. I have been asking the Jaipur Development
Authority (JDA) to design city mixes with 50 blows rather than 75 blows. This would result in
about 0.3 percent higher bitumen content, which would significantly increase the durability of
city streets. This must also be included in MORTH Specifications and should be implemented in
all towns/cities across India. This is also in conformity with the Asphalt Institute MS-2 which is
used for Marshall Mix Design in India.

Question

In India there is no standard, well defined test method for extraction of bitumen from
bituminous paving mixes. Therefore, variations in testing methodologies exist between
testing laboratories.

Answer

Yes, you are right. There is a brief extraction test method given in one of the IRC publications,
which is also outdated. It uses benzene as the solvent, which is highly toxic to humans and has
been banned in developed countries. The current ASTM method uses safer trichloroethylene
solvent instead. Also, most test laboratories in India do not account for ultra-fines which pass
through the centrifuge filter and end up in the extract solvent. This results in significantly higher
measured bitumen content and thus gives undue advantage to the supplier of the bituminous mix.

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As a member of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), I had requested the PCD 6 Committee to
develop some ten BIS standards for testing bituminous paving mixes such as bitumen content by
solvent extraction; bitumen content using NCAT ignition oven; maximum theoretical specific
gravity; and Marshall stability and flow test. This is because people in India cannot generally
afford to buy expensive ASTM/AASHTO standards. Finally, BIS agreed. Under my
chairmanship of a Task Group, the drafts of these BIS test methods were prepared and submitted
to BIS for balloting. We should see these BIS standards for testing bituminous mixes within next
six months or so.

If you would like to learn a lot more about bituminous paving mixes and pavements, please read
the first ever textbook cum reference book, “Bituminous Road Construction in India” authored
by me and published by Prentice Hall of India (PHI) in 2016. This book is priced Rs. 525
only. Contact PHI at customerservice@phindia.com or call them at 011- 4303 1100. You can
also order it on www.amazon.in for Rs. 470.

Regards,
Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal
Jaipur
pkandhal@gmail.com

“American roads are good not because America is rich, but America is rich because
American roads are good.” - John F. Kennedy

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About the Writer
Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal is Associate Director Emeritus of the National Center for Asphalt
Technology (NCAT) based at Auburn University, Alabama, U.S.A. NCAT is the largest asphalt
(bitumen) road technology center in the world.

Prior to joining NCAT in 1988, Prof. Kandhal served as Chief Asphalt Road Engineer of the
Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for 17 years. He is the first person born outside
North America, who has held the following three national and international very prestigious
positions in the asphalt road technology area:

 President, Association of Asphalt Paving Technologists (with members from all

continents in the world)
 Chairman, American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International Committee
on Road Paving Standards (responsible for over 200 standards used worldwide)
 Chairman, US Transportation Research Board Committee on Asphalt Roads

Prof. Kandhal has published over 120 technical papers and has co-authored the first ever
textbook on asphalt road technology, which is used by more than 25 universities in the U.S. He
has travelled to various countries in Europe, South America, Middle East, China, Vietnam,
Japan, Singapore, and Australia to provide training and consulting services in asphalt (bitumen)
technology.

Prof. Kandhal has been a practicing highway engineer in India for over 20 years and in the US
for 30 years. Recently he has drafted many standards for the Indian Roads Congress including
specifications for dense graded bituminous mixes, stone matrix asphalt, and readymade pothole
patching mix. He was also instrumental single-handedly in introducing viscosity grading of
bitumen in India in lieu of penetration grading in 2005. He has now published in July 2016 the
first ever textbook cum reference book, “Bituminous Road Construction in India”.

In August 2011, Prof. Kandhal was inducted on the “Wall of Honour” established at the largest
asphalt road research center in the United States. In April 2012, he received the “Lifetime
Achievement Award in Asphalt Road Technology” from the International Association of Asphalt
Paving Technologists during their annual banquet held in Austin, Texas, USA.