Chapter 5- Highway Materials and Design part 2-2

Marshall Mix Design

 Overview

The original concepts of this method were

developed by Bruce Marshall (1908-1977), a
bituminous engineer with the Mississippi State
Highway Department. The original features
have been improved by the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and the test now is standardized
and described in detail in the ASTM
Designation D1559.
 Marshall Mix Design

The Marshall stability and flow test provides the performance

prediction measure for the Marshall mix design method.

The stability portion of the test measures the maximum load supported
by the test specimen at a loading rate of 50.8 mm/min

Load is applied to the specimen till failure, and the maximum load is
designated as stability.
During the loading, an attached dial gauge measures the specimen's
plastic flow (deformation) due to the loading. The flow value is
recorded in 0.25 mm (0.01 inch) increments at the same time when the
maximum load is recorded.

Marshall Mould
 Specimen preparation
Approximately 1200gm of aggregates and filler is heated to a temperature of 175-190 °C.
Bitumen is heated to a temperature of 121-125 °C with the first trial percentage of bitumen
(say 3.5 or 4% by weight of the mineral aggregates).
The heated aggregates and bitumen are thoroughly mixed at a temperature of 154-160 °C.
The mix is placed in a preheated mould and compacted by a hammer with 75 blows on
either side at temperature of 138 °C to 149 °C .
The weight of mixed aggregates taken for the preparation of the specimen may be suitably
altered to obtain a compacted thickness of 63.5 ± 3 mm. Vary the bitumen content in the next
trial by +0.5 (4, 4.5, 5, 5.5%... etc) and repeat the above procedure. Number of trials are
predetermined.

Marshall Mould

35, 50, or 75 blows

Stability Test
• In conducting the stability test, the specimen is immersed in a bath of
water at a temperature of 60 ⁰C for a period of 30 to 40 minutes.
• It is then placed in the Marshall stability testing machine and loaded at a
constant rate of deformation of 2 in (5 mm) per minute until failure occurs.
• The total load N in pounds that causes failure of the specimen is noted
as the Marshall stability value of the specimen.
• The total amount of deformation in units of 0.01 in (0.25mm) that occurs
up to the point the load starts decreasing is recorded as the flow value.
Apply stability correction
It is possible while making the specimen the thickness slightly vary
from the standard specification of 63.5 mm. Therefore, measured
stability values need to be corrected to those which would have been
obtained if the specimens had been exactly 63.5 mm. This is done by
multiplying each measured stability value by an appropriated
correlation factors as given in Table 1
Table 1: Correction factors for Marshall stability values
 Properties of the mix

The properties that are of interest include the theoretical specific gravity,
the bulk specific gravity of the mix, percent air voids, percent volume of
bitumen, percent void in mixed aggregate and percent voids filled with
bitumen VFB. These calculations are discussed next.
 Bulk Specific Gravity of Aggregate Gsb
The bulk specific gravity is defined as the weight in air of a unit volume
(including all normal voids) of a permeable material at a selected
temperature, divided by the weight in air of the same volume of gas-free
distilled water at the same selected temperature.
Since the aggregate mixture consists of different fractions of coarse
aggregate, fine aggregate, and mineral fillers with different specific gravities,
the bulk specific gravity of the total aggregate in the paving mixture is given as
 Apparent Specific Gravity of Aggregates Gasb
The apparent specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the weight in air of an
impermeable material to the weight of an equal volume of distilled water at
a specified temperature. The apparent specific gravity of the aggregate mix is
therefore obtained as
Bulk S.G and density of mix
The bulk S.G. of mix (Gmb) usually is determined by weighing the
sample in air and in water. It may be necessary to coat samples made
from open-graded mixtures with paraffin before determining the
density. The bulk specific gravity Gmb of the sample—that is, the
compacted mixture—is given as

Density= Gmb x unit weigh of water

 Maximum Specific Gravity of the Paving
Mixture Gmm
• The ratio of the weight in air of a unit volume of an uncompacted
bituminous paving mixture at a stated temperature to the weight of
an equal volume of gas-free distilled water at a stated temperature.

The effective specific gravity of the aggregates is The ratio of the oven dry weight in air of a unit volume of a
permeable material (excluding voids permeable to asphalt) at a stated temperature to the weight of an equal
volume of gas-free distilled water at a stated temperature.
Asphalt absorption Pba
• Asphalt absorption is the percent by weight of the asphalt that is
absorbed by the aggregates based on the total weight of the
aggregates. This is given as
Effective Asphalt Content Pbe
The effective asphalt content is the difference between the total
amount of asphalt in the mixture and that absorbed into the aggregate
particles. The effective asphalt content is therefore that which coats
the outside of the aggregate particles and influences the pavement
performance. It is given as
Percent Voids in Compacted Mineral
Aggregates VMA
• VMA is the percentage of void spaces between the granular particles
in the compacted paving mixture, including the air voids and the
volume occupied by the effective asphalt content.
Percent Air Voids in Compacted Mixture Pa
• Pa is the ratio (expressed as a percentage) between the volume of the
small air voids between the coated particles and the total volume of
the mixture. It can be obtained from
Prepare graphical plots
The average value of the properties are determined for
each mix with different bitumen content and the
following graphical plots are prepared:
✓ Binder content versus corrected Marshall stability
✓ Binder content versus Marshall flow
✓ Binder content versus percentage of void (Pa) in the
total mix
✓ Binder content versus voids in mineral aggregate
(VMA)
✓ Binder content versus unit weight or bulk specific
gravity.
 Determine optimum bitumen content
Determine the optimum binder content for the mix design by taking
average value of the following three bitumen contents found form the
graphs obtained in the previous step.
➢ Binder content corresponding to maximum stability
➢ Binder content corresponding to unit weight
➢ Binder content corresponding to the median of designed limits of
percent air voids (Pa) in the total mix (i.e. 4%)

The stability value, flow value, and VFB are checked with Marshall mix design
specification chart given in Table 18.7.
Example In designing an asphalt concrete mixture for a highway pavement to support
medium traffic, data in Table 18.8 showing the aggregate characteristics and Table 18.9
showing data obtained using the Marshall method were used. Determine the optimum
asphalt content for this mix for the specified limits given in Table 18.7.
• An adequate amount of asphalt to ensure a durable pavement
• An adequate mix stability to prevent unacceptable distortion and
displacement when traffic load is applied
• Adequate voids in the total compacted mixture to permit a small amount
of compaction when traffic load is applied without loss of stability,
blushing, and bleeding, but at the same time insufficient voids to prevent
harmful penetration of air and moisture into the compacted mixture.
• Adequate workability to facilitate placement of the mix without
segregation
Aging and Temperature Sustainability
• When asphaltic materials are exposed to environmental elements,
gradually lose their plasticity and become brittle.
• The ability of an asphalt material to resist weathering is described as
the durability of the material.
• Some of the factors that influence weathering are oxidation,
volatilization, temperature, and exposed surface area.
• Oxidation
Oxidation is the chemical reaction that takes place when the asphalt
material is attacked by oxygen in the air. This chemical reaction causes
gradual hardening (eventually permanent hardening) and
considerable loss of the plastic characteristics of the material.

• Volatilization
Volatilization is the evaporation of the lighter hydrocarbons from the
asphalt material. The loss of these lighter hydrocarbons also causes
the loss of the plastic characteristics of the asphalt material.
Temperature
• Temperature has a significant effect on the rate of oxidation and
volatilization. The higher the temperature, the higher the rates of
oxidation and volatilization.
• The rate of organic and physical reactions in the asphalt material
approximately doubles for each 10⁰C increase in temperature.
Surface Area

• The exposed surface of the material also influences its rate of

oxidation and volatilization. There is a direct relationship between
surface area and rate of oxygen absorption and loss due to
evaporation.
• An inverse relationship, however, exists between volume and rate of
oxidation and volatilization. This means that the rate of hardening is
directly proportional to the ratio of the surface area to the volume.
 CLO 4
4.7 MEASURING PAVEMENT QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE
The design procedure for pavements originally focused on the pavement serviceability
index (PSI) as a measure of pavement quality.

• Roughness Index
To get some sense for how the IRI relates to pavement condition assessments and PSI,
Tables 4.12 and 4.13 provide IRI and PSI values corresponding to what is considered poor,
mediocre, fair, good, and very good for Interstate and non-Interstate highways [Federal
Highway Administration, 2006].

• Friction Measurements
This is critical because low friction values can increase stopping distances and the
probability of accidents.

• Rut Depth
Rut depth, which is a measure of pavement surface deformation in the wheel paths, can
affect roadway safety because the ruts accumulate water and increase the possibility of
vehicle hydroplaning.
Cracking
For flexible pavements, four types of cracking are usually monitored:
• Longitudinal-fatigue cracking is a surface-down cracking that occurs due
to material fatigue in the wheel path.
• Transverse cracking is generally the result of low temperatures that
cause fractures across the traffic lanes (resulting in an increase in
pavement roughness).
• Alligator-fatigue cracking is a consequence of material fatigue in the
wheel path, generally starting from the bottom of the asphalt layer. Such
material fatigue creates a patch of connected cracks that resembles the
skin of an alligator.
• Reflection cracking occurs when hot-mix asphalt (HMA) overlays are
placed over exiting pavement structures that had alligator-fatigue
cracking, or other indications of pavement distress, and these old
distresses manifest themselves in new distresses in the overlay.
• Faulting
For traditional JPCP (Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements) rigid pavements, joint
faulting (characterized by different slab elevations) is a critical measure of
pavement distress. Faulting is an indicator of erosion or fatigue of the layers
beneath the slab and reflects a failure of the load-transfer ability of the pavement
between adjacent slabs.
• Punchouts
Occur for Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements when the close spacing of
transverse cracks cause in high tensile stresses that result in portions of the slab
being broken into pieces.
Thank you