An Easy and Handy method

of Mending Pot-Holes
Specially
In Rainy Season

Rajib Chattaraj
Superintending Engineer
N.H. Wing, PW(R )D
Burdwan,29th. September,2015
Govt. of West Bengal
 Poor condition of the road during rainy season
• In the rainy season, the
highway engineers
often have to face the
problem of maintaining
the roads in trafficable
condition.

• But at the same time, it

is a problem to work
with the normally
available paving grade
bitumen ( Vg-30 etc.) in
the rainy season
 Common methods for mending pot-holes
• Many methods have been
tried- with bituminous mix,
cationic emulsion cold mix,
filling pot-holes with bricks,
aggregates with earth even.

• But nothing has been proved

to be very effective in the rainy
season.

• If a very handy and easy to

apply as well as durable
method is available with the
engineers specially during the
rainy season, the picture would
have been different .
 A simple and easy technique for
mending pot-holes in rainy season
What is required: What is not required

• 5.6 mm coarse aggregate • No tack coat

• MC-800 grade of cut-back • No vertical cut of pot-holes
bitumen conforming to IS- edge
217 • No dry surface
• Suitable Anti-stripping • No rolling by power roller
compound • No large machinery
• Spot mix Plant • Not even a favourable
• Hand Rammer weather condition
• No rest or curing period
 Gradation of aggregate
Sieve % passing 50% 5.6mm 70% 5.6mm 100% 5.6 mm
size,mm required 50% stone 30%Stone (Satisfying
Dust Dust the required
gradation)
9.5 100 100 100 100

4.75 40-100 88.8 88 72.1

2.36 10-40 56.4 48.6 17.89

1.18 0-10 29.5 22.2 4.94

0.075 0-2 4.3 3.5 0.21

 Physical properties of the aggregate
Property Test Requirement Test Method

Cleanliness Grain Size analysis Max. 2% passing IS : 2386 Part I

0.075 micron
Particle Shape Flakiness & Max.35% IS : 2386 Part I
Elongation
index(combined)
Strength* Los Angeles Max. 40% IS : 2386 Part IV
(* Either of the Abrasion value
two should be
Aggregate Impact Max. 30% IS : 2386 Part IV
satisfied)
value
Durability Sodium Sulphate Max. 12% IS : 2386 Part V
(Soundness,Sodiu
Magnesium Max. 18% IS : 2386 Part V
m or Magnesium),
Sulphate
5 cycles

Water absorption Water Absorption Max. 2% IS : 2386 Part III

Required Binder Property (IS:217)
Required Property of Anti-stripping Compound
 Machineries and tools required

A spot mix plant A tractor for carrying

mixed material

Hand rammer & Lute

 Procedure of preparation of the Mix
• Step: I
• Aggregate Temperature range is 250C- 650C
• Aggregates should be dry and clean
• Fines (less than 0.075mm) are restricted to Max. 2%

Compared to
conventional hot mix ,
it is much less, thus,
energy saving and
environment friendly
 Procedure of preparation of the Mix
• Step: II
• Binder (MC-800 Cut back bitumen) Temperature range is
750C-950C (it is done to ensure proper mixing)
• If the max. temperature is more than the Flash Point, care
should be taken that there should not be any open flame in
the near vicinity for ensuring safety.

Again it is much
lesser than the
conventional
hot-mix
 Procedure of preparation of the Mix
• Step: III
• Measure appropriate quantity of binder and appropriate
quantity of aggregate by proportion of weight as per Mix
Design
 Procedure of preparation of the Mix
• Step: IV
• Measure appropriate dosage of Anti-stripping compound
• Mix with the Binder
 Procedure of preparation of the Mix
• Step: V
• Mix in the spot-mix plant
• Be careful about the safety aspects, there should not any
open flame inside & outside the drum when MC-800 is added
for mixing.
 Placing of the Mix
• Carry the materials to the site, place it on the required pot-
hole and ram it by hand rammer
• No tack coat is required, only the surface may be broomed
• No need to maintain the temperature like the conventional
hot-mix, let it be at par with the ambient temperature
 Placing of the Mix
• Do not bother, even the surface is wet
• It should only be kept in mind not to place the mix on
stagnant water or when it is raining.
 Placing of the Mix
• It can even be placed after a spell of rain
 Opening to the Traffic
• Immediately after placing, open the traffic
• No rest or curing period is required
• No rolling by power roller is required
 Opening to the Traffic
• No mixed material is picked up by the action of moving tyres
• Need not to be bothered , if it rains immediately after placing
of the mix and opening to the traffic unlike the conventional
hot-mix
 A simple Mix-Design
• Step: I - Selection of Aggregate-Binder proportion
• Depending on the water content of the mineral aggregate, the
minimum residual bitumen content by % weight of total mix
is fixed as per the following table :
Water Absorption of the Minimum residual bitumen
aggregate, % content, %
Less than 1.0 4.5

1.1 to 1.5 5.0

1.6 to 2.0 5.5

 Mix-Design ( Contd.)
• What does residual bitumen content mean ?
• Considering the cut-back bitumen has 80% bitumen(residual)
and 20% diluent( such as kerosene), a bucket of 8kg cut-back
bitumen has 6.4 kg residual bitumen.[Actual % of residual
bitumen and diluent in Cut-back bitumen has to be obtained
from the manufacturer]
• Considering water absorption of the mineral aggregates
(generally Pakur or Panchami variety aggregates are used) as
less than 1.0%, referring to the table of Water Absorption of
aggregate-vs-Residual Bitumen content mentioned on the
previous slide, this 6.4kg of residual bitumen corresponds to
4.5%.
• Thus, aggregate to be mixed with 8kg of Cut-back bitumen
=6.4/4.5 * 95.5 = 135.82 kg say , 136 kg of mineral aggregate.
 Mix-Design ( Contd.)
• Step: II Addition of proper dosage of Anti-
stripping compound
• This is a very important component of this patching mix.

• Since the aggregate size is a single size, the mix is much

porous than the conventional well graded hot-mix. So to
avoid stripping of the aggregates under the action of rain
water and heavy pressure of the pneumatic tyres, addition of
suitable anti-stripping compound is must.

• Compatibility of an-strip compound with the variety of the

mineral aggregate used is also a point that has to be kept in
mind .
 Mix-Design ( Contd.)
• The dosage of an-strip compound has to be specified by the
manufacturer and it comes as % by weight of the binder i.e., the
cut-back bitumen.

• Generally it ranges from 0.2% to 3.0% by weight of the binder.

• Considering the dose as 0.5%, for 8kg of cut-back bitumen, we

need 40 gm of an-strip compound. The correct dose of an-strip
compound is determined by testing efficacy of antistripping agent
to coat aggregates with bitumen in presence of water(as per the
method described in Appendix-4 of Roads & Bridge specification of
MoRTH(5th. Revision)

• The total weight of the mix , thus, stands 136kg of aggregate and
6.4 kg of residual bitumen (considering the diluent will evaporate
and ignoring the very small weight of the an-strip compound) =
142.4kg
 Testings of the patching mix
• There are principally two tests for checking the quality of the
mix.
• Water Resistance Test: The water resistance test would indicate
whether the patching mix has a potential for stripping in the pothole in
presence of water. If the mix fails this test, it means a proper type and/or
amount of an anti-stripping agent has not been used in the bituminous
binder.
• Workability Test: If the mix fails in workability it could be due to
improper bitumen type, low bitumen content, excessive fines or improper
gradation. Even one-half percent lower bitumen content can make the
patching mix unworkable and useless.
• Two more tests are there : Wet Coating Test and Static-
Immersion Test
 Cost analysis
• For comparison of the cost of this patching mix with other
conventional bituminous mixes generally used for mending pot-
holes, as per PW(R)D schedule, July’2014
i) a lead of 300km from Haldia (say Suri ) has been considered,
ii) cost of VG-30 grade bitumen(Packed) has been analysed as
Rs.52,609.50/MT & Bulk bitumen as Rs.49,842.50/MT from Haldia
refinery,
iii) cost of stone aggregate has been analysed with a lead of 50 km
from Suri of Pakur quarry stones with railway freight,
iv) cost of MC-800 cut-back bitumen with all taxes and carriage as
obtained by quotation from the manufacturer as Rs.67,469.00/ MT,
v) cost of an-strip compound has also been quotationed as
Rs.350/Kg
 Comparison of cost
Items Rate in Rs./M3 Rate in Rs./50 kg

DBM GR-I 9551.74 192.96

BC Gr-II 11,762.98 231.82

Premix Carpet 10,413.5 236.67

Mending good Pot-holes 9,182.68 208.7

20mm MSS 10,182.5 231.42

BM 7,748.05 174.11

Seal Coat 14,533.33 314.57

Patching mix with MC-800 11,821.04 268.66

Proprietary patching products 61,160.00 1390.00

supplied in bags
 Case Studies
• This patching mix was first tried in 2010 when MC-
800 cut-back bitumen was not manufactured and
available in West Bengal.
• MC-800 and an-strip compound had been procured
from a manufacturer of Gujrat.
• Because of the problem of preparing weigh bill, it
was procured in a small quantity (2 MT) and
transported with the certificate that it would be
utilised for research purpose .
• The mix was prepared in departmental stackyard and
applied on GT road, Burdwan which is a very busy
road with mixed traffic.
Test Certificates
Photographs of the work done
 Storage for future work
• For test checking, some quantity of the patching mix was
stored in cement bags and applied on the pot-holes of
Burdwan-Katwa State highway after 5 months.
 Making the mix with the material
manufactured in West Bengal
• The manufacturers of bituminous products of West
Bengal were pursued to produce this wonderful product
which may appear as blessings to the highway engineers
in the rainy season.
• A Bituminous product manufacturing company of Kolkata
came up with the product manufactured in their plant
with suitable an-strip compound in 2013.
• The same had been procured from them and the
patching mix was prepared in PWD stackyard, Burdwan.
• The mix was applied in the busy roads of Burwan during
rainy season.
• Effectiveness of the mix was checked by judging the
performance of the patches done before and after
“PYLIN “ occurred during the month of October’2013.
 Photographs of the work done
Patches done before PYLIN Same patches after PYLIN
 Photographs of the work done
Patches done before PYLIN Same patches after PYLIN
 Photographs of the work done
Patches done before PYLIN Same patches after PYLIN
 Photographs of the work done
Patches done before PYLIN Same patches after PYLIN
 Photographs of the work done
Patches done before PYLIN Same patches after PYLIN
Test Certificates
Test Certificates
 Durability & Application of the mix
• If there is no base failure of the road, repaired pot-
holes with this patching mix has the history of
success of 78% in USA and durability of 3-4 years.
• This mix is designed to be applied in the pot-holes
upto a depth of 75 mm. If the depth is more than
that, in the bituminous layer, it has to be applied in
layers.
• If the pot-holes is extended beyond bituminous layer,
i.e., upto base/sub-base layer, suitable repairing by
WBM/WMM should be done and primed.
This easy and handy method is attributable to the paper

A SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE METHOD OF

REPAIRING POTHOLES IN INDIA
By
Prof. Prithvi Singh Kandhal
Published as Paper No. 544 in the Journal of
the Indian Roads Congress, Volume 69-
3,October-December, 2008, Annual Session,
Kolkata
 New IRC Specification
• Which has now became an IRC Specification,
recently published:-

• IRC:116-2014 –“Specifications for Readymade

Bituminous Pothole Patching Mix using Cut-
Back Bitumen”
• Downloadable from web portal :
https://law.resource.org/pub/in/bis/irc/
Thank You All