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19
III. DATA SHEET 26
Bulk Specific Gravity of Compacted Mix, G
mb
1. The volume of the compacted mix, V
mb
is determined using Archimedes Principle
(an objects volume is the equal to the volume of water that it displaces):
mbw mssd mb
M M V =
where
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
M
mssd
= SSD mass of the specimen in air (grams)
M
mbw
= mass of the specimen in water (grams)
2. The bulk specific gravity of the compacted mix, G
mb
is calculated as follows:
w mb
mb
mb
V
M
G
=
where
G
mb
= bulk specific gravity of compacted mix
M
mb
= mass of the specimen in air (grams)
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
w
= the density of water (g/cm
3
)
Percent Voids in the Mineral Aggregate, VMA
1. The mass of asphalt in each specimen, M
b
is calculated as follows:
mb b b
M P M =
where
M
b
= mass of asphalt cement in the specimen (grams)
P
b
= percent asphalt content (grams of asphalt cement per gram of total mix)
M
mb
= mass of the specimen in air (grams)
2. The mass of aggregate in each specimen, M
sb
is calculated as follows:
20
b b m sb
M M M =
where
M
sb
= mass of aggregate in the specimen (grams)
M
mb
= mass of the specimen in air (grams)
M
b
= mass of asphalt cement in the specimen (grams)
3. The volume of asphalt cement in each specimen, V
b
is calculated as follows:
w b
b
b
G
M
V
=
where
V
b
= volume of asphalt cement in each specimen (cm
3
)
M
b
= mass of asphalt cement in the specimen (grams)
G
b
= specific gravity of the asphalt cement used in the mix
w
= the density of water = 1.0 g/cm
3
4. The volume of mineral aggregate in each specimen, V
sb
is calculated as follows:
w sb
sb
sb
G
M
V
=
where
V
sb
= volume of mineral aggregate in each specimen (cm
3
)
M
sb
= mass of mineral aggregate in the specimen (grams)
G
sb
= bulk specific gravity of the blended mineral aggregate in the mix
w
= the density of water = 1.0 g/cm
3
5. The volume of voids in the mineral aggregate, V
vma
is calculated as follows:
sb mb vma
V V V =
where
V
vma
= volume of voids in the mineral aggregate (cm
3
)
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
V
sb
= volume of mineral aggregate in each specimen (cm
3
)
6. The percent voids in the mineral aggregate, VMA is based on the bulk volume, V
mb
:
100%
V
V
VMA
mb
vma
=
where
VMA = voids in the mineral aggregate in each specimen (% of bulk volume)
21
V
vma
= volume of voids in the mineral aggregate (cm
3
)
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
Marshall Stability and Flow
1. The flow, which is the vertical deformation of the specimen when failure occurs,
is measured in the standard units of hundredths on an inch. If a specimen fails at a
deformation of 0.25 inches (a quarter of an inch), the flow value reported would be
25.0.
2. If the deformation were measured in millimetres and found to be 6.35 mm at
failure, the flow would be reported as 6.35/0.254 or 25.0.
3. The standard dimensions of the Marshall specimens are 4 inches (101.6 mm) in
diameter and 2 inches (63.5 mm) in thickness. This would produce a standard bulk
volume of 31.416 cubic inches or 514.815 cm
3
.
Since the strength of the specimen is affected by its thickness and hence its
volume, a correction must be made to the load at failure in Newtons to account for
deviations from the standard specimen dimensions. By carefully comparing the
strength of many test specimens to their dimensions, the Asphalt Institute produced
a table of Correlation Ratios used to correct the measured load at failure or
Marshall Stability into an Adjusted Marshall Stability.
By comparing the bulk volume, V
mb
of each specimen in cm
3
to the ranges in Table
5.01 in subsection 2.2.3a of the course notes on the instructors website, the
appropriate correlation ratio can be determined for each specimen. Since V
mb
is
determined to 0.1 cm
3
, there should be no ambiguity as to the tabulated range to use.
If, for example, the V
mb
for a specimen were measured as 543.6 cm
3
, this falls in
the range of 536 to 546 cm
3
for which a correlation ratio, CR of 0.93 is tabulated.
If the Marshall Stability for this specimen was measured at 5600 N then the
adjusted Marshall Stability would be determined as follows:
5208N 0.93 5600 Stability' = =
If the V
mb
for a specimen is greater than 625 cm
3
(the highest of Table 5.01), the
instructor should be consulted to extrapolate a CR value using an equation based on
the data in Table 5.01.
22
Maximum Specific Gravity, G
mm
1. For two of the six asphalt contents, (5.0% and 6.0% is desired) a maximum
specific gravity, G
mm
measurement is made on the uncompacted, loose or voidless mix.
The maximum specific gravity, G
mm
at any asphalt content should always be higher
than any of the bulk specific gravities, G
mb
for that asphalt content since the bulk
specimens had air voids in them which would make the bulk specimens less dense than
the uncompacted mix. The maximum specific gravity is calculated as shown:
pws pw mm
mm
mm
M M M
M
G
+
=
where
G
mm
= maximum specific gravity of the voidless mix
M
mm
= mass of loose mix sample (grams)
M
pw
= mass of the pycnometer and basket in water (grams)
M
pws
= mass of pycnometer + sample + basket in water (grams)
23
Percent Air Voids, P
a
A. For Asphalt Contents where G
mm
has been Determined
For two asphalt contents (5.0% and 6.0% are desirable but not essential) G
mm
will have been determined. For these cases the determination of Percent air voids, P
a
is relatively simple. To save testing time for the remaining asphalt contents the
percent air voids, P
a
can be determined based on the average effective specific
gravity, G
se
of the aggregate.
1. First, find the volume of the voidless mix, V
mm
as shown:
w mm
mb
mm
G
M
V
=
where
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
M
mb
= mass of the specimen in air (grams)
G
mm
= maximum specific gravity of the voidless mix
w
= the density of water (g/cm
3
)
2. The effective volume of the mineral aggregate, V
se
is calculated as follows:
b mm se
V V V =
where
V
se
= effective volume of the mineral aggregate (cm
3
)
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
V
b
= volume of asphalt cement in each specimen from step 3 in VMA calc. (cm
3
)
3. The volume of air in the compacted mix, V
a
is then found:
mm mb a
V V V =
where
V
a
= volume of air in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
24
4. The volume of asphalt absorbed by the aggregate, V
ba
is found as follows:
mm sb b ba
V V V V + =
where
V
ba
= volume of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
V
b
= volume of asphalt cement in each specimen from step 3 in VMA calc. (cm
3
)
V
sb
= volume of mineral aggregate in each specimen (cm
3
)
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
5. The mass of asphalt absorbed by the aggregate, M
ba
is found as follows:
w b ba ba
G V M =
where
M
ba
= mass of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (grams)
V
ba
= volume of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
G
b
= specific gravity of the asphalt cement used in the mix
w
= the density of water = 1.0 g/cm
3
6. The percent asphalt absorbed by the aggregate, P
ba
is then determined:
100%
M
M
P
sb
ba
ba
=
where
P
ba
= percent asphalt absorbed by the aggregate in the mix
M
ba
= mass of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (grams)
M
sb
= mass of mineral aggregate in the specimen (grams)
7. The effective specific gravity of the aggregate, G
se
is then found as follows:
w se
sb
se
V
M
G
=
where
G
se
= effective specific gravity of the blended mineral aggregate in the mix
M
sb
= mass of mineral aggregate in the specimen (grams)
V
se
= effective volume of the mineral aggregate (cm
3
)
w
= the density of water = 1.0 g/cm
3
25
8. The percent air voids, P
a
in the compacted mix is then calculated:
100%
V
V
P
mb
a
a
=
where
P
a
= percent air voids in the compacted mix
V
a
= volume of air in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
B. For Asphalt Contents Without G
mm
For the asphalt contents where G
mm
was not determined, the average effective
specific gravity, G
se
of the aggregate from A above is used to find the percent air
voids, P
a
, the percent asphalt absorbed, P
ba
and to estimate the maximum specific
gravity, G
mm
.
1. First, find the effective volume of the mineral aggregate, V
se
using the
average G
se
determined from A as follows:
w se
sb
se
G
M
V
=
where
V
se
= effective volume of the mineral aggregate (cm
3
)
M
sb
= mass of mineral aggregate in the specimen (grams)
G
se
= average effective specific gravity of the blended mineral aggregate
w
= the density of water (g/cm
3
)
2. The volume of the voidless mix, V
mm
is then calculated as follows:
b se mm
V V V + =
where
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
V
se
= effective volume of the mineral aggregate (cm
3
)
V
b
= volume of asphalt cement in each specimen from step 3 in VMA calc. (cm
3
)
26
3. The volume of air in the compacted mix, V
a
is then found:
mm mb a
V V V =
where
V
a
= volume of air in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
4. The volume of asphalt absorbed by the aggregate, V
ba
is found as follows:
mm sb b ba
V V V V + =
where
V
ba
= volume of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
V
b
= volume of asphalt cement in each specimen from step 3 in VMA calc. (cm
3
)
V
sb
= volume of mineral aggregate in each specimen (cm
3
)
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
5. The mass of asphalt absorbed by the aggregate, M
ba
is found as follows:
w b ba ba
G V M =
where
M
ba
= mass of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (grams)
V
ba
= volume of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
G
b
= specific gravity of the asphalt cement used in the mix
w
= the density of water = 1.0 g/cm
3
6. The percent asphalt absorbed by the aggregate, P
ba
is then determined:
100%
M
M
P
sb
ba
ba
=
where
P
ba
= percent asphalt absorbed by the aggregate in the mix
M
ba
= mass of asphalt absorbed by aggregate in the compacted mix (grams)
M
sb
= mass of mineral aggregate in the specimen (grams)
27
7. The maximum specific gravity of the voidless mix, G
mm
is then estimated as
follows:
w mm
mb
mm
V
M
G
=
where
G
mm
= maximum specific gravity of the voidless mix
M
mb
= mass of the specimen in air (grams)
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
w
= the density of water = 1.0 g/cm
3
It should be noted that the G
mm
should decrease with asphalt content and be
greater than the bulk specific gravity, G
mb
calculated for each specimen at the
asphalt content under scrutiny. These considerations can be used to determine
whether or not the properties of each trial specimen are rational and consistent.
8. The percent air voids, P
a
in the compacted mix is then calculated:
100%
V
V
P
mb
a
a
=
where
P
a
= percent air voids in the compacted mix
V
a
= volume of air in the compacted mix (cm
3
)
V
mb
= bulk volume of the specimen (cm
3
)
Percent of Voids Filled with Asphalt, VFA
1. The percent of the volume of voids in the mineral aggregate occupied by asphalt in
each specimen, VFA is calculated as follows:
( )
100%
V
V V
VFA
vma
sb mm
=
where
VFA = percentage of the volume of voids in the mineral aggregate filled with
asphalt cement in each specimen
V
mm
= volume of the voidless mix (cm
3
)
V
sb
= volume of mineral aggregate in each specimen (cm
3
)
V
vma
= volume of voids in the mineral aggregate (cm
3
)
28
IV. DATA SHEET 27
Data sheet 27 is a summary of all the calculations on the 6 copies (one for each
asphalt content) of data sheet 26. The averages for each parameter will be used to
generate plots of each parameter versus percent asphalt content.
The values being averaged must be reasonably close to each other numerically but
they must also make sense in terms of relationships between parameters:
a) The maximum specific gravities, G
mm
should be higher than the bulk specific
gravities, G
mb
for each asphalt content. The maximum specific gravity, G
mm
should decrease as asphalt content increases.
b) The percent asphalt absorbed, P
ba
should not exceed the maximum possible
asphalt absorption capacity of the blended aggregate, P
bamax
.
c) The G
mb
and Adjusted Marshall Stability values usually result in a maximizing
shaped curve.
d) The VMA values usually range between 10 and 20 percent and show a
minimizing shaped curve.
e) The Marshall Flow values usually increase with asphalt content.
f) The percent air voids, P
a
, usually decreases with increasing asphalt content.
g) The VFA values should increase with asphalt content, but not past 100%!
The calculated values for each specimen should be scrutinized for logical viability.
Values that are logically non-viable (eg., negative or out of the reasonable range)
should be stroked out with a horizontal line in the summary table of Data sheet 27.
The average value of each parameter for each asphalt content should then be based
only on the viable values.
In some instances, the calculated parameters might seem reasonable, but the
Marshall Stability and flow results (for example) may seem unreasonable for one
particular asphalt content. This could be the result of leaving the specimens in the
water bath for too long or not long enough or inconsistent water bath temperature.
Sometimes one of the specimens is not tested correctly (missed the maximum load
29
dial reading or flow dial reading at maximum load). If specimens are rejected due to
irregularities in Marshall testing, parameters such as G
mb
, G
mm
, VMA and P
a
may still
be valid and need not automatically be excluded from the analysis. Again, any values
rejected must be documented in the report.
V. DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM ASPHALT CONTENT
There are five parameters to consider when selecting the best or optimum
asphalt content for a mix design: G
mb
, Stability, Flow, VMA, P
a
and VFA. Tables 5.02
and 5.03 in subsection 2.2.4 (b and c) of the course notes section of the instructors
website, specify ranges of acceptable values (according to the Asphalt Institute) for
Stability, Flow and P
a
and minimum values for VMA and VFA.
The first step to identifying the optimum asphalt content is to plot the average
values of these five parameters versus percent asphalt content. This can be done
most easily by using Excel to produce Scatter Plots and then requesting a trendline
with its equation in Excel for each plot. A linear trendline should be specified for the
P
a
plot and second order polynomials for all the other parameters.
The optimum asphalt content is estimated by averaging the asphalt contents for
the median value in the P
a
range, the maximum G
mb
value and the maximum Stability
value. These can be derived from the trendline equations.
Then, by substituting the optimum asphalt content into the equations, the values
for each parameter that would be expected when using the optimum asphalt content
can be estimated.
The mix should then be evaluated by comparing these expected values to the
ranges of acceptable parameter values in Tables 5.02 and 5.03 in the course notes.
VI. REPORT
1. Visit the website for the Ontario Provincial Standards:
http://www.ops.on.ca/home.asp
and select Online Standards or click on the OPS link on the instructors
homepage. Using the standards indicated on the Report Forms, fill in the required
information for the report.
30
2. Seven graphs are required, each with trendlines and their equations and showing
the graphic estimation of parameter values for the optimum asphalt content.
These should be annotated with titles, be arranged 6 on one page, the seventh
on a separate page and shall include:
a) top left: bulk specific gravity, G
mb
versus percent asphalt content,
b) top right: maximum specific gravity, G
mm
versus percent asphalt
content,
c) middle left: Adjusted Marshall Stability versus percent asphalt
content,
d) middle right: flow versus percent asphalt content,percent air voids,
e) bottom left: P
a
versus percent asphalt content,
f) bottom right: VMA versus percent asphalt content, and
g) on a separate page, VFA versus percent asphalt content.
3. Data sheets 24 (1), 25 (1), 26 (6) and 27 (1) should be properly completed. Any
rejected data on data sheet 27 should be clearly indicated as described in
Section IV above.
a) The determination of the optimum asphalt content should be
documented in the appropriate section of the report as should the
evaluation and comparison to the Asphalt Institute criteria for hot mix
asphalt design.
31
VII. GLOSSARY OF SYMBOLS (masses in grams, volumes in cm
3
)
ABS
sb
percent absorption capacity of blended
aggregate
ABS
FA
percent absorption capacity of fine
aggregate
ABS
CA
percent absorption capacity of coarse
aggregate
G
b
apparent specific gravity of the asphalt cement
used in the mix
G
CAb
bulk specific gravity of the coarse aggregate
G
FAb
bulk specific gravity of the fine aggregate
G
MFb
bulk specific gravity of the mineral filler
G
CAa
apparent specific gravity of the coarse
aggregate
G
FAa
apparent specific gravity of the fine
aggregate
G
MFa
apparent specific gravity of the mineral filler
G
mb
bulk specific gravity of compacted mix
G
mm
maximum specific gravity of the voidless mix
G
sb
bulk specific gravity of the blended mineral
aggregate
G
se
effective specific gravity of blended mineral
aggregate
M
b
mass of asphalt cement in the specimen
M
ba
mass of asphalt absorbed by aggregate
M
mb
mass of the specimen in air
M
mssd
mass of the SSD specimen in air
M
mbw
mass of the specimen in water
M
mm
mass of loose mix sample
M
pw
mass of the pycnometer + basket in water
M
pws
mass of pycnometer + sample + basket in water
M
sb
mass of mineral aggregate in the specimen
P
a
percent air voids in the compacted mix
P
b
percent asphalt content (% of total mix mass)
P
ba
percent asphalt absorbed by the aggregate in the
mix
P
CA
percent of total aggregate mass composed of
coarse aggregate
P
FA
percent of total aggregate mass composed of fine
aggregate
P
MF
percent of total aggregate mass composed of
mineral filler
w
density of water = 1.0 g/cm
3
V
a
volume of air in the compacted mix
V
b
volume of asphalt cement in each specimen
V
ba
volume of asphalt absorbed by aggregate
V
mb
bulk volume of the specimen
VMA percent voids in the mineral aggregate
V
mm
volume of the voidless mix
V
sb
volume of mineral aggregate in each specimen
V
se
effective volume of the mineral aggregate
V
vma
volume of voids in the mineral aggregate
VFA percent of voids in the mineral aggregate filled with
asphalt cement