Investigations on moisture damage-related behaviour of bituminous materials

This doctoral thesis presents results of literature review on classical and contemporary aspects of stripping, as well as experimental investigations on moisture damage as influenced by bituminous materials. Previous research in the area of moisture damage was reviewed and synthesized into a state-of-the-art. Important parameters linked to moisture sensitivity, like bituminous material characteristics, dynamic loads from heavy vehicles, environmental factors, construction practice and nature of anti-stripping additives, are presented. The state-of-the-art in current test methods is summarized and given. The experimental work involved investigations of the influence of bitumen and aggregate composition on water susceptibility. The influence of aggregate mineralogy and chemistry was evaluated using eleven aggregates and one bitumen, followed by studying the interactive effect of four bitumens and four aggregates. Moisture sensitivity was evaluated in accordance with (EN 12697-12:2003) for conditioning, ASTM D 4123 for resilient modulus determination, and (EN 12697-23:2003) for indirect tensile strength testing. Furthermore, thermal stability of two liquid amine anti-stripping additives mixed with two bitumens of varied acidity was investigated using potentiometric titration and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy. Lastly, a technique based on Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR) was developed and used for studying transport of water across thin bitumen films, as well as stripping at bitumen/substrate interfaces. Bitumens from different sources and three substrates (silicon, germanium and zinc selenide crystals) were used. Based on the results obtained, it was concluded that aggregates containing sodium and potassium in alkali feldspars generally showed high moisture sensitivity. In contrast, presence of calcium, magnesium and iron was associated with aggregates with low moisture sensitivity. Contrary to several previous findings, one aggregate with practically 100% quartz exhibited low moisture sensitivity. No linear relationship between moisture sensitivity and the contents of SiO2 and Al2O3 in the aggregates studied was established. Results of the interactive influence of bitumen and aggregate composition showed that high acid and low penetration bitumens exhibited high dry strength for all the aggregates studied. On the other hand, for a given bitumen, the wet strengths were found to be aggregate specific. The results of tests on thermal stability of amine additives showed that usefulness of these additives reduces considerably, when the more alkaline additive was mixed with the high acid bitumen, followed by storing the blends under pronounced conditions of time and temperature (24 hours and 140ºC, or more, in this study). Much less interaction occurred when the less alkaline additive was blended with the low acid bitumen. Even if a correlation was found between the results of potentiometric titration and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, the latter was not considered good enough at detecting amine additives, especially at low dosages. The technique based on FTIR-ATR developed in this study distinguished between good and bad bitumens with regard to stripping. The effectiveness of amine-based additives in reducing stripping was also shown by the method. Three likely processes occurred during the test, namely water diffusion, film break, and displacement (stripping) of bitumen from the substrate surface. The results also indicated that the diffusion process of water into the bitumen/substrate interface does not obey Fick’s law.QC 2010083

On investigation of stripping propensity of bituminous mixtures

In this study, an experimental programme was designed toestablish a relationship between bituminous mixture constituentmaterial properties and their propensity to moisture induceddamage in form of stripping. Six bitumen types (3 from Ugandaand 3 from Sweden) with presumably varying characteristics wereevaluated basing on rheology and chemistry. Eleven aggregateswere used in this study. Seven were sourced from activequarries in Uganda and four were from Sweden. Bitumen rheology was established basing on penetration,softening point, viscosity, ductility and visco-elasticparameters obtained from dynamic mechanical analysis. Bitumenchemistry was studied using Fourier Transform InfraredSpectroscopy, Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and ThinLayer Chromatography (TLC). Bituminous mixtures were reconstituted from the bitumen andaggregate combinations basing on the Swedish mix designprocedure ROAD 94 using dense graded mixtures with 16mm maximumaggregate size (AG16). Mixture sensitivity to moisture wasevaluated basing on Swedish FAS 446-98 specifications closelyrelated to the modified Lottman procedure. The investigation was done in two phases namely, (a) theeffect of aggregate properties on mixture moisture sensitivityand (b) the of cross effects of bitumen and aggregates onmixture moisture sensitivity. The results reveal chemical compositional differences inbitumens that would be considered similar basing on classicalrheological properties like penetration and viscosity. Resultsof dynamic mechanical analysis show that binders have similarvisco-elastic response around 0oC. This could be a potentialphenomenon to serve as a grading scheme for bitumen as is thecase with penetration and viscosity grading systems. The results from phase I of the study show that presence ofCa-feldspars and ferromagnesian minerals in aggregates largelyrelates to improved resistance of mixtures to moisture damage.In addition, mixtures from aggregates with high concentrationsof acid insolubles (SiO2 and Al2O3) are sensitive to moisturedamage. The results of phase II of this study show that the choiceof aggregate type is the dominant factor affecting moisturesensitivity of the resulting mixtures. Bitumen type seems notto be an important factor in determining moisture sensitivityof bituminous mixtures. Aggregates with Ca-feldspars andferromagnesian minerals seemed to be the most resistant tomoisture damage irrespective of the bitumen type. Assessment of moisture sensitivity basing on absolutestiffness values of water treated mixtures seems not to bereliable. Results from this study show that mixtures withsimilar wet resilient moduli had varying tensile strengthratios, hence varying moisture sensitivity tendencies. Modulusof resilience ratio (MRR) and tensile strength ratio (TSR)parameters show similar trends in comparing moisturesensitivity of different mixtures. However, MRR values aregenerally lower than TSR values for the same mixtures

Effect of passing zone length on operation and safety of two-lane rural highways in Uganda

This paper presents a methodology to assess the effect of the length of passing zone on the operation and safety of two-lane rural highways based on the probability and the rate of passing maneuvers ending in a no-passing zone. The methodology was applied using observed passing maneuver data collected with tripod-mounted camcorders at passing zones in Uganda. Findings show that the rate at which passing maneuvers end in a no-passing zone increases with traffic volume and unequal distribution of traffic in the two directions, absolute vertical grade, and percent of heavy vehicles in the subject direction. Additionally, the probability of passing maneuvers ending in a no-passing zone reaches 0.50 when the remaining sight distance from the beginning of the passing zone is 245 m for passenger cars or short trucks (2–3 axles), and 300 m for long trucks (4–7 axles) as the passed vehicles. These results suggest policy changes in design and marking of passing zones to enhance safety and operation of two-lane rural highways