| Abstract: | Bitumen Stabilized Materials (BSMs) are widely recognized as environmentally friendly through significantly reduced energy consumption,reduced emissions and reuse of high percentage of RAP and recycled pavement materials. In order for these materials to be cost effective,their life-cycle performance needs to be proven. Durability of BSMs is a long-term phenomena that requires consideration during mix design. Time is very important variable for performance consideration under field conditions. The factors that influence durability and long-term performance of BSMs include the mineral aggregates,binder and mixture compositions. In this study,the important,but less understood aspects of durability properties of BSMs were investigated. These include wear and tear of mineral aggregates,age-hardening of binder (foamed bitumen and bitumen emulsion) and moisture susceptibility of typical mix composition. The wear and tear was investigated using Durability Mill Index (DMI) test,binder ageing was investigated for short and long-term effect,and moisture susceptibility was investigated by pulsing water pressures using new device i.e. moisture induction simulation test (MIST). The accelerated moisture conditioning simulates field conditions whereafter retained shear properties are evaluated. The results found that durability of mineral aggregates is significantly influences by the type and nature of mineral composition. The ageing of binder occurred in both short and long-term conditions,with short-term effects being dominating the foamed bitumen properties during laboratory production. Moisture susceptibility is significantly influenced by the mix compositions of aggregates blends with and without RAP,with different bitumen binder types (foamed bitumen or bitumen emulsion) and active filler type (cement or lime) and contents. The evaluation and ranking of mixes which are resistant and susceptible to moisture damage was done using retained cohesion (RC) after dry and wet monotonic triaxial testing. |
