Transportation Engineering I

(CE 653)
Chapter 6: Lecture 5

Rajesh Khadka
Department of Civil
Engineering
acem
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Chapter 6
(16 @ 80 = 20%)

Highway Materials
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Chapter Outlines as per Syllabus

6.1 Introduction and Classification of Road Materials
6.2 Subgrade Soil
6.2.1 General
6.2.2 Characteristics of Subgrade Soil
6.2.3 Desirable Properties of Subgrade Soil
6.3 Road Aggregate
6.3.1 Definition and Classification of Road Aggregates
6.3.2 Desirable Properties of Road Aggregates
6.3.3 Tests on Road Aggregates and Their Significance
6.3.4 Comparing Gradation Specification and Method of Translating Specification
6.3.5 Combining of the Aggregates
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6.4 Bituminous Road Binders

6.4.1 Definition and Classification of Road Binders
6.4.2 Liquid Bitumen: Cut-back Bitumen and Bitumen Emulsion
6.4.3 Tests on Bituminous Binders
6.5 Bituminous Mixes
6.5.1 Definition and Classification
6.5.2 Marshal Method of Bitumen Mix Design

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6.1 Introduction and Classification of Road Materials

6.1.1 Introduction: Road Materials

Various types of materials are used as road materials.
Soils are extensively used for embankment construction and
construction of soil stabilized layer.
Stone aggregates are used in pavement construction and
off-road structures and as a filter materials for backfilling
the retaining walls and in subsurface drainage.
For the economic design of highway, appropriate road
materials should be selected.
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6.1.2 Classification Road Materials

Most common road materials used for road construction are classified
into three groups:
(a) Mineral Materials
(b)Binding Materials
(c) Other Common Building Materials

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(a) Mineral Materials

Occurs naturally or semi-processed or fully processed.
For Example:
o Subgrade Soil
o Fine Aggregates (Sand) Pit-run Sand or River Sand
o Stone Chips
o Screened Materials
o Coarse Aggregates (Gravel)
o Blast Furnace Slag
o Brick Pebbles

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(b) Binding Materials

Used for binding mineral materials during road
construction.
Most Common Binding Materials areStone Dust or Cohesive Soil
Cement, Lime or Other Inorganic Materials
Bitumen, Tar and Other Organic Materials

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 Mineral Materials + Binding Materials = New

Forms of Materials

Water Bound Macadam (WBM)

Stabilized
Lime Soil
Soil
Cement Soil
Bitumen Soil
Cement Concrete
Lime Concrete
Lean Concrete
Bituminous Concrete
Asphalt Concrete
Cement Mortar

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(c) Other Common Building Materials

Reinforcing Steel
Timber
Stone
Bricks
Boulders
Cobbles
Gabion Wires, etc.

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6.2 Subgrade Soil

6.2.1 General
Subgrade soil is a part of pavement structure which support the pavement from beneath.
Consequences due to Poor Subgrade Conditions
a) In Flexible Pavements: Formation of waves, corrugations, rutting and shoving

b) In Rigid or Cement Concrete Pavements: Mud pumping, Blowing and therefore cracking

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Waves and Corrugations

Transverse undulations appear at regular intervals due to the
unstable surface course caused by stop-and-go traffic.

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Rutting
Formation of ruts falls in this type of failure. A rut is a
depression or groove worn into a road by the travel of
wheels.
This type of failure is caused due to following reasons.
Repeated application of load along the same wheel path
resultinglongitudinal ruts.
Wearing of the surface course along the wheel path
resultingshallow ruts.

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Shoving
A form of plastic movement typified by ripples (corrugation) or an abrupt
wave (shoving) across the pavement surface. The distortion is
perpendicular to the traffic direction. Usually occurs at points where traffic
starts and stops (corrugation) or areas where HMA abuts a rigid object
(shoving).
Possible Causes
Usually caused by traffic action (starting and stopping) combined with:
An unstable (i.e. low stiffness) HMA layer (caused by mix contamination,
poor mix design, poor HMA manufacturing, or lack of aeration of liquid
asphalt emulsions)
Excessive moisture in the subgrade

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Mud Pumping
When material present below the road slab ejects out through the joints or cracks, it is
called pumping. When soil slurry comes out it is called mud pumping.
The common reasons for this defect are Infiltration of water through the joints, cracks or edge of the pavement forms soil slurry.
Movement of heavy vehicles on pavement forces this soil slurry to come out causing
mud pumping.
When there is void space between slab and the underlying base of sub-grade layer
Poor joint sealer allowing infiltration of water
Repeated wheel loading causing erosion of underlying material
Pumping can also lead to formation of cracks. This is because; ejection of subgrade
material below the slab causes loss of subgrade support. When traffic
movement occurs at these locations, it fails to resist the wheel load due to reduction of
subgrade support and develops cracks.
This type of defect can be identified when there is presence of base or subgrade
material
on the pavement surface close
joints
or cracks.
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Blow Ups
A localized upward slab movement and shattering at a joint or crack. Usually occurs in
spring or summer and is the result of insufficient room for slab expansion during hot
weather.
Possible Causes
During cold periods (e.g., winter) PCC slabs contract leaving wider joint openings. If these
openings become filled with incompressible material (such as rocks or soil), subsequent
PCC slab expansion during hot periods (e.g., spring, summer) may cause high compressive
stresses. If these stresses are great enough, the slabs may buckle and shatter to relieve
the stresses. Blowup can be accelerated by:
Joint spalling(reduces slab contact area and provides incompressible material to fill the
joint/crack)
D cracking(weakens the slab near the joint/crack area)
Freeze-thaw damage (weakens the slab near the joint/crack area)

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Soil Classification Systems

b)

Based on Grain Size:

MIT (Massachusetts institute of Technology) Soil Classification System
ISI (Indian Standards Institution) Soil Classification System
Based on Texture:
Textural or Triangular Soil Classification System

c) Based on the Person or Agencies:

) Burmisters Descriptive Soil Classification System
) Casagrandes Soil Classification System
) USCS (Revised Casagrande, Indian Standard Soil Classification System)
) US Public Road Administration (PRA) Soil Classification System
) Highway Research Board (HRB) or AASHO or Revised PRA Soil Classification System
) Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) Soil Classification System
) Civil Aeronautic Administration (CAA) Soil Classification System
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 Developed by Prof. G. Gilboy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,

Boston, USA.
Soil is divided into 4 groups.
Gravel Particle Size > 2 mm
Sand Particle Size between 0.06 mm to 2 mm
Silt Size Particle Size between 0.002 mm to 0.06 mm
Clay Size Particle Size < 0.002 mm (2 m)
This system uses only two integers 2 and 6 and is easy to remember.
Sand and Silt Size range are further sub-divided into 3 categories:
Coarse (C)

(b) Medium (M) and (c) Fine (F)

2 mm

Grave
l
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0.6 mm

0.2 mm

0.06 mm 0.02 mm 0.006 mm 0.002 mm

Sand

M
Silt Size

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Clay
Size
20

Indian Standard Institution (ISI) Soil

Classification

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Out of them
USCS is widely used for general civil engineering purposes.

Highway Research Board (HRB) or AASHTO is adopted for the

classification of subgrade soils in highway design.

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PI

LL

(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)

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GI = 0.2 (F 35) + 0.005 (F 35) (LL 40) + 0.01 (F 15)

(PI -10)
or
GI = 0.2*a + 0.005 a*c + 0.01 b*d
F Percentage by mass passing 0.075mm size, expressed as a
whole number
LL Liquid Limit (%), expressed as a whole number
PI Plasticity index (%), expressed as a whole number.
a = (F 35)
b = (F 15)
c = (LL 40) and
d = (PI 10)
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 Group index values near 0 indicate good soils, while values of 20 or

more indicate very poor soils. However, a soil that may be "good" for
use as a highway subgrade might be "very poor" for other purposes, and
vice versa.
If GI < 0 (i.e. Negative) Take GI=0.
The maximum values of ((F 35) and (F 15) are taken as 40 and that
of (LL 40) and (PI 10) as 20.
Round off GI to the nearest whole number, e.g., GI=3.4 to 3; 3.5 to 4.
Quality of performance as a subgrade material is inversely proportional
to the GI i.e. Higher GI means poorer material.
Group Index usually reflects the relative strength of the material, where
low values have the greatest shear strength.
The group index of soils belonging to groups A-1-a, A-1-b, A-2-4, A-2-5,
and A-3 will always be zero.
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6.2.2 Characteristics of Subgrade Soil

Soil is one of the most important highway materials.

Used as subgrade soil.
Used to construct highway embankments.
Compacted soil and Stabilized soil are generally used in Subbase or Base courses of highway pavement.
Characteristics of soil depend on: particle size, shape,
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surface
texture, chemicalRAJESH
composition,
m/c and dry density.

6.2.3 Soil Subgrade Strength Depending

Factors
1. Soil Type
2. Moisture Content
3. Dry Density
4. Internal Structure of Soil
5. Type and Mode of Stress Application
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6.2.4 Desirable Properties of

Subgrade Soil
1. Stability
. Characterized by resistance to permanent deformation under loads,
. Resistance to weathering,
. Ability to retain desired sub grade support.

2. Incompressibility
. Soil used in sub grade and embankment construction and foundation
should be incompressible.

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3. Permanency of Strength
Property of soil, which allows sub grade to support pavement with
the same degree of strength under varied condition of moisture
and weather.

4. Minimum Changes in Volume and Stability under

Adverse Condition of Weather and Ground Water
Frost Action
Variation of GWT

Minimum changes in volume and stability under adverse

conditions of weather and ground water:
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is required to ensure minimum
variation in expansion.

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5. Good Drainage
Characteristics are essential to avoid excessive moisture and frost
action.

6. Ease of Compaction
Property of soil, which ensures higher dry density with minimum
compaction effort for increasing strength characteristics and
permanency
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6.2.5 California Bearing Ratio (CBR) Test

Penetration test (load-penetration/deformation test performed in the
laboratory or in the field), basically measures the strength of subgrade
soil and pavement courses materials.
CBR test was originally developed by O.J. Porter for the California
Highway Department during the 1920s.
Method of classifying and evaluating the stability of subgrade soil, subbase and base course materials for design of flexible pavements
thickness.
CBR is a measure of resistance of a material to penetration of standard
plunger under controlled density and moisture conditions.
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California
bearing ratio is the ratio of force per unit area

 CBR is defined as the ratio of the test load to the standard

load, expressed as percentage for a given penetration of the circular
plunger of 50 mm diameter at the rate of 1.25 mm/min to that required
corresponding penetration of a standard material (crushed stone).

Test load = load carries by the specimen

Standard load is defined as the load corresponding to the tests
carried out on a crushed stone whose CBR value is taken as 100%. i.e.
load carries by standard specimen i.e. crushed stone
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 In most cases, CBR decreases as the penetration increases.

The ratio at 2.5 mm penetration is used as the CBR.
In some case, the ratio at 5 mm may be greater than that at
2.5 mm.
If the CBR value obtained from test at 5.0 mm penetration is higher
than that at 2.5 mm, then the test is to be repeated for checking.
If the check test again gives similar results, then higher value
obtained at 5.0 mm penetration is reported as the CBR value.
Average CBR value of three test specimens is reported as the CBR
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value
of the sample.

 CBR test may be conducted in remoulded or undisturbed sample.

Test consists of causing a cylindrical plunger of 50 mm diameter to
penetrate a pavement component material at 1.25 mm/minute.
Loads for 2.5 mm and 5 mm are recorded.
This load is expressed as a percentage of standard load value at a
respective deformation level to obtain CBR value.

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Objective of CBR Test

To Determine California Bearing ratio (CBR) value and sub grade

thickness for compacted soil under given traffic load.

To determination of CBR of soil either in undisturbed or

Remoulded condition
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Apparatus Required
Loading Machine any compression machine can operate
at constant rate of 1.25mm per minute can be used.
Cylindrical Mould mould of 150mm diameter and
175mm height provided with a collar of about 50mm length
and detachable perforated base.
Compaction Rammer
Surcharge Weight annular weights each of 2.5kg and
147mm diameter.
Coarse filter paper
Balance
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 A Spacer Disc, 50 mm deep to be kept in the mould during the

specimen preparation, enables a specimen of 125 mm deep to be
obtained.
Specimen is covered with equal Surcharge Weights to simulate the
effect of overlying pavement or the particular layer under
construction.
Each surcharge slotted weight, 147 mm in diameter with a central
whole 53 mm in diameter and weighing 2.5 kg is considered
approximately equivalent to 6.5 cm of construction.
A minimum of two surcharge weights (i.e. 5 kg surcharge load) is
placed on the specimen.
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CBR Testing Machine

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California Bearing Ratio (CBR) Testing

Setup
50 mm
diameter
piston

175
mm

Saturated
Specimen

150 mm
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Spacer Disc

Mould with Collar

Surcharge Weights

Base Plate
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CBR Test Sample Preparation

CBR Test Load-Penetration Measurem

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Sample Preparation
The test may be performed (a) On undisturbed soil specimen
(b) On remoulded soil specimen
So Two Ways of Sample Preparation 1) Preparation of Undisturbed Sample

2)

Preparation of Remoulded Sample

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1) Preparation of Undisturbed Sample

Undisturbed specimen/sample is obtained by fitting to the
mould, the steel cutting edge of 150 mm internal diameter
and pushing the mould as gently as possible into the ground.
When the mould is sufficiently full of soil, it shall be removed
by under digging.
The top and bottom surfaces are then trimmed flat so as to
give the required length of specimen.
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2) Preparation of Remoulded Sample

Remoulded samples are prepared such that the dry density
obtained from Proctor Compaction Tests, the w/c of remoulded
samples is either the OMC or the field moisture.
If it is proposed to carry out the CBR test on an unsoaked
specimen, the moisture content for remoulding should be the
same as the equilibrium moisture content which the soil is likely
to reach subsequent to the construction of the road.
If it is proposed to carry out the CBR test on a soaked specimen,
the moisture content for remoulding should be at the optimum
and soaked under water for 96 hours. (4 days)

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Soaking Samples

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Soil Sample
The material used in the remoulded specimen should all pass
through a 19 mm IS sieve.
Allowance for larger material may be made by replacing it by
an equal amount of material which passesa 19 mm sieve but
is retained on a 4.75 mm IS sieve.
This procedure is not satisfactory if the size of the soil
particles is predominantly greater than 19 mm.
The specimen may be compacted statically or dynamically.

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1.Compaction by Static Method

Calculate the mass of the wet soil at the required moisture content
to give the desired density when occupying the standard specimen
volume in the mould.
Thoroughly mix a batch of soil with water to give the required water
content.
Place the correct mass of the moist soil in the mould and
compaction obtained by pressing in spacer disc, a filter paper being
placed between the disc & soil.
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2. Compaction by Dynamic Method

For dynamic compaction, a representative sample of soil weighing
approximately 4.5 kg or more for fine grained soils and 5.5 kg or more for
granular soil shall be taken and mixed thoroughly with water.
If the soil is to be compacted to the maximum dry density at the optimum
water content determined in accordance with light compaction or heavy
compaction, the exact mass of soil required is to be taken and the
necessary quantity of water added so that the water content of soil sample
is equal to the determined optimum water content.
The mould with extension collar attached is clamped to the base plate.
The spacer disc is inserted over the base plate and a disc of coarse filter
paper placed on the top of the spacer disc.
The soil water mixture is compacted into the mould in accordance with the
methods specified in light compaction test or heavy compaction test.
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Procedure

The mould containing the specimen with the base plate in position but the top face
exposed is placed on the lower plate of the testing machine.
Surcharge weights, sufficient to produce an intensity of loading equal to the weight of the
base material and pavement is placed on the specimen.
To prevent upheaval of soil into the hole of the surcharge weights, 2.5 kg annular weight
is placed on the soil surface prior to seating the penetration plunger after which the
remainder of the surcharge weight is placed.
The plunger is to be seated under a load of 4 kg so that full contact is established
between the surface of the specimen and the plunger.
The stress and strain gauges are then set to zero. Load is applied to the penetration
plunger so that the penetration is approximately 1.25 mm per minute.
Readings of the load are taken at penetrations of 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 4.0, 5.0, 7.5,
10.0 and 12.5 mm.
The plunger is then raised and the mould detached from the loading equipment.
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 CALCULATION
Load-Penetration curve:
The load penetration curve is plotted taking penetration value on x-axis
and Load values on Y-axis. Corresponding to the penetration value at
which the CBR is desired, corrected load value is taken from the loadpenetration curve and the CBR calculated as follows
California bearing ratio = (PT/PS)x100
Where
PT= Corrected unit (or total) test load corresponding to the chosen
penetration curve, and
PS= Unit(or total) standard load for the same depth of penetration as for
PStaken from standard code.
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 REPORT
The CBR values are usually calculated for penetration of
2.5 mm and 5 mm. The CBR value is reported correct to
the first decimal place.
SAFETY & PRECAUTIONS
Clean the sieves with the help of a brush, after sieving
While weighing put the sieve with soil sample on the
balance in a concentric position.
Check the electric connection of the sieve shaker before
conducting the test.
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CBR Testing Procedure

Sieve the sample through 20mm IS sieve.
Take 5 kg of the sample of soil specimen.
Add water to the soil in the quantity such that optimum moisture
content or field moisture content is reached.
Then soil and water are mixed thoroughly.
Spacer disc is placed over the baseplate at the bottom of mould and a
coarse filter paper is placed over the spacer disc - enables a specimen
of 125 mm deep to be obtained. .
The prepared soil water mix is divided into five.
The mould is cleaned and oil is applied.
Then fill one fifth of the mould with the prepared soil.
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That
layer is compacted by giving
56 evenly distributed blows using
a

 The top layer of the compacted soil is scratched.

Again second layer is filled and process is repeated.
After 3rdlayer, collar is also attached to the mould and process is
continued.
After fifth layer collar is removed and excess soil is struck off.
Remove base plate and invert the mould. Then it is clamped to
baseplate.
Surcharge weights of 2.5 kg is placed on top surface of soil.
Mould containing specimen is placed in position on the testing
machine.
The penetration plunger is brought in contact with the soil and a load
of 4 kg(seating load) is applied so that contact between soil and
plunger
is established.
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Standard Load Values

Penetration(mm)

Standard Load(kg)

Unit Standard
Load(kg/cm2)

2.5

1370

70

2055

105

7.5

2630

134

10.0

3180

162

12.5

3600

183

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Result
California Bearing Ratio at 2.5mm penetration = ?
California Bearing Ratio at 5.0mm penetration = ?
California Bearing Ratio of subgrade soil = ?

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Observation Table

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Uses of CBR Values

The CBR values are used to determine the total thickness of
the flexible pavement and its various layers.

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