High type Bituminous construction (Ref.- S.K. Khanna & L.R.

Kadyali)
Bituminous concrete: The bituminous concrete is the highest
quality of construction in the group of black top surfaces. Being
of high cost specifications, the bituminous mixes are properly
designed to satisfy the design requirements of the stability and
durability. The mixture contains dense grading of coarse
aggregate, fine aggregate and mineral filler coated with bitumen
binder. The mix is prepared in a hot mix plant. The thickness of
the bituminous concrete layer depends upon the traffic and
quality
Bituminous mix design
Objectives: To develop an economical blend of aggregate and
asphalt that meet bituminous mix design requirements.
Mobile Hot Mix Plant

Hot Ready Mix Plant

Properties of bituminous mix
a. Stability b. Density c. Durability d. Flexibility e. Skidding
g. workability
• The mix must have sufficient asphalt to ensure a durable,
compacted pavement by thoroughly coating, bonding and
waterproofing the aggregate.
• Enough stability to satisfy the demands of traffic without
displacement or distortion (rutting).
• Sufficient voids to allow a slight amount of added
compaction under traffic loading without bleeding and loss
of stability. However, the volume of voids should be low
enough to keep out harmful air and moisture.
• To accomplish this the mixes are usually designed by 4%
VTM in the lab and compacted to less than 7% VTM in the
field.
• Enough workability to permit placement and proper
compaction without segregation.
Bituminous Mix Design Methods: There are five
popular methods of mix design-
1. Marshall Method 2.Hubbard-Field method 3.Hveem
method 4.Smith tri-axial method
5. Superpave method
Out of these methods, Marshall Method is widely used in
the world.
Specifications of Materials
• Binder: Bitumen of grade 30/40, 60/70 or 80/100 may be
chosen depending upon the climatic condition of the
locality.
• Aggregates and filler: The coarse aggregates should fulfill
the following requirements
Physical requirements for coarse aggregate for bituminous concrete
Property Test Specification
Cleanliness (dust) Grain size analysis Max. 5% passing
0.075mm sieve
Particle shape Flakiness and elongation index Max. 30% (combined)

Strength Los Angeles abrasion value Max. 30%

Aggregate impact value Max 24%
Polishing Polished stone value Min 55%
Durability Soundness (5 cycles)
Sodium sulphate Max 12%
Magnesium sulphate Max 18%
Water absorption Water absorption Max 2%
Stripping Coating and stripping of Min. retained coating
Bitumen aggregate mixtures 95%

Water sensitivity Retained tensile strength Min 80%

Requirements for bituminous pavement mix

Mix Properties Heavy traffic Low traffic

Minimum stability (kN at 600C) 9.0 3.4
flow value (mm) 2-4 2-4
Compaction level (No. of blows 75 50
on each face of specimen)
Percent air voids 3-6 3-5
Percent voids in mineral
aggregate (VMA)
Percent voids filled with bitumen 65 - 75 75 - 85
(VFB)
Loss of stability on immersion in Min 75% Min 65%
water at 600C (ASTM D 1075) retained strength retained strength
Composition of bituminous concrete pavement layers
Grading 1 2
Nominal agg. size 19 mm 13 mm
Layer thickness 50-65 mm 30-45 mm
IS sieve (mm) Cumulative % by wt. of total agg. passing IS sieve (mm)
26.5 100
19 79-100 100
13.2 59-79 79-100
9.5 52-72 70-88
4.75 35-55 53-71
2.36 28-44 42-58
1.18 20-34 34-48
0.6 15-27 26-38
0.3 10-20 18-28
0.15 5-13 12-20
0.075 2-8 4-10
Bitumen content % 5-6 5-7
by mass of total mix
Bitumen grade 65 65
Marshall Mix design procedure
Information given
 Type of pavement: light, medium and heavy duty pavement or axle
load
 Aggregate gradation limit: ASTM, BS and AASHTO, IS etc.
 Material used: Coarse aggregate, Fine aggregate, filler material and
bitumen
 Design criteria for selected pavement
 Marshall mix design criteria

Results to be obtained from mix design

• Job/batch mix formula-(Cagg; Fagg; Filler; Bitumen)/ton
• Mixing temperature
• Compaction temperature
Temperature-Viscosity relationship of Bitumen
• To establish mixing and compaction temperatures it is
necessary to develop a temperature viscosity chart. This
can be done by determining the viscosity at two different
temperatures - generally 135 C and 165 C. These two
viscosities are then plotted on the graph above and a
straight line is drawn between the two points.
• The desired viscosity range for mixing is between 0.15
and 0.19 Pa-s and 0.25 and 0.31 Pa-s for compaction.
Appropriate mixing and compaction temperatures are
selected as the temperature where these viscosity
requirements are met.
Design steps
• Aggregate qualifying, aggregate test specification
• Bitumen qualifying, bitumen test specification (IS-73, ASTM)
• Aggregate blending for specified gradation
• Specific gravity determination for coarse aggregate, fine
aggregate, filler material and bitumen.
• Determination of mixing and compaction temperature.
• Marshall sample preparation with varying binder content (5-
7%) at mixing and compaction temperature.
• Analysis
a) Density-void analysis
• Maximum theoretical density determination of compacted
sample.
• Bulk density determination of prepared sample from volume
and mass.
• Determination of air void, VFA, VMA for Marshall sample.
 The theoretical specific gravity Gt of the mix is given by:
Gt = 100/[(W1/G1) + (W2/G2) + (W3/G3) + (W4/G4)]
Where W1 = percent by weight of coarse agg. in total mix
W2 = percent by weight of fine agg. in total mix
W3 = percent by weight of filler in total mix
W4 = percent by weight of bitumen in total mix
 G1, G2, G3 are apparent specific gravity values of the coarse agg.
fine agg. and filler respectively and G4 is the specific gravity of
bitumen.
Vv % = 100(Gt – Gb)/Gt Where Vv = air voids in the mix, %
Vb % = Gb* W4/G4 Vb = volume of bitumen
VMA % = Vv + Vb VMA = voids in mineral agg. %
VFB % = 100*Vb/VMA VFB = voids filled with bitumen, %
b) Stability-flow analysis
Determination of stability and flow from stability-flow test
Volume – Void Relationship in Bituminous Mix

Marshall Mix Design Sample

Graph drawing for-
1. Stability vs. Bitumen content 4. VMA vs. Bitumen content
2. Air void vs. Bitumen content 5. VFA vs. Bitumen content
3. Bulk density vs. Bitumen content 6. Flow vs. Bitumen content
 Determination of optimum bitumen content (OBC)-
OBC = Bitumen content at (max. stability + max. density + avg. air
void)/3
OR
OBC = Bitumen content at (max. stability + max. density + avg. air
void + 80% VFA)/4
 Matching the results at OBC with Marshall Mix design
criteria
 Establishing results with respect to followings:
• Job/batch mix formula-(Cagg; Fagg; Filler; Bitumen)/ton
• Mixing temperature
• Compaction temperature

Quality control-
• All time supervision during construction
• Test before construction- Laboratory test
• Test during construction- Laboratory and field test
• Test after construction- Laboratory and field test
Construction steps
Preparation of the existing base course layer
• The existing surface is prepared by removing the pot holes
or ruts if any.
• The irregularities are filled in with premix chippings at least
a week before laying surface course.
• If the existing pavement is extremely wavy, a bituminous
leveling course of adequate thickness is provided to lay a
bituminous concrete surface course on a binder course
instead of directly laying it on a WBM.
Application of tack coat
• It is desirable to lay AC layer cover over a bituminous base
or binder course.
• A tack coat of bitumen is applied at 6 to 7.5 kg per 10 m2
area, this quantity may be increased to 7.5 to 10 kg for non-
bituminous base.
Preparation and placing of premix
• The premix is prepared in a hot mix plant of a
required capacity with the desired quality control.
• The bitumen may be heated up to 150-10C and the
aggregate temperature should not differ by over 140C
from the binder temperature.
• The hot mixed material is collected from the mixer
by the transporters, carried to the location and is
spread by a mechanical paver.
• The camber and the thickness of the layer are
accurately verified.
• The control of the temperatures during the mixing
and the compaction are of great significance in the
strength of the resulting pavement structure.
Rolling
• A mix after placed on the base course is thoroughly
compacted by rolling at a speed not more than 5 km
per hour.
• The initial or breakdown rolling is done by 8 to 12
tones roller and the intermediate rolling is done with
a fixed wheel pneumatic roller of 15 to 30 tones
having a tire pressure of 7 kg per cm2.
• The wheels of the roller are kept damp with water.
The number of passes required depends on the
thickness of the layer.
• In warm weather, rolling on the next day helps to
increase the density if the initial rolling was not
adequate.
• The final rolling or finishing is done by 8 to 12 tone
tandem roller.
Quality control of bituminous concrete construction
• The routine checks are carried out at site to ensure the
quality of the resulting pavement mixture and the pavement
surface.
• Periodical checks are made for a) aggregate grading b)
grade of bitumen c) temperatures of aggregate d)
temperatures of paving mix during mixing and compaction.
• At least one samples for every 100 tones of the mixed
discharged by the hot mix plant is collected and tested for
above requirements.
• Marshall tests are also conducted. For every 100 m2 of
compacted surface, one test of the field density is conducted
to check whether it is at least 95% of the density obtained in
the laboratory.
• The variation in thickness allowed is 6mm per 4.5m length
of construction.
Finished surface
• The AC surface should be checked by a 3m straight edge.
• The longitudinal undulations should not exceed 8mm and
the number of undulations higher than 6mm should not
exceed 10 in a length of 300m.
• The cross profile should not have undulations exceeding
4mm.