COMPARISION OF INTERNATIONAL ROAD STANDARDS WITH RBI GRADE 81 TECHNOLOGY.

This section deals with the design requirements for stabilized bases and subbases as per the various Specifications available abroad and RBI Grade 81 are listed below:

1. TRL ORN31 Practice (UK) This design guide is for bituminous-surfaced roads in tropical and sub-tropical countries. The design of concrete pavements is not included. The design catalogues for various pavement types allow for stabilization of the road base, sub-base and capping layers using cement or lime. The materials recommended in the guide are road base (CB1 and CB2) and subbase (CS), with unconfined compressive strength (UCS) values as shown in Table 5.

Properties of cement (or lime) stabilized materials

Specifications for these materials (CB1, CB2, CS) also include grading envelopes, maximum values for Liquid Limit (LL), Plasticity Index (PI), and Linear Shrinkage (LS) as well as recommended values for the coefficient of uniformity (i.e. the ratio of: sieve size that 60 per cent material passes to sieve size that 10 per cent of material passes). For cement-stabilized materials, the amount of cement to add is determined by laboratory trials according to BS 1924, using initial values of 2, 4, 6 and 8 per cent cement. Cubes or cylinders are then made and cured for set times before a strength test is carried out. The UCS test is usually used to determine the optimum cement content. The procedure for lime stabilized materials is similar, but a longer curing time is allowed. For stabilized sub-base material, the CBR test can be used as an alternative to the UCS

requirement. A minimum value of CBR 70 per cent after seven days moist curing is recommended. In the design charts given in ORN31 the traffic loading is given in several categories up to 30 million standard axles. It is important to note that where a stabilized road base is shown, the surfacing is a thin surface dressing and not asphaltic concrete (Chart 8). This is mainly to reduce the effects of reflection cracking. In Charts 1 to 6, a stabilized sub-base is allowed but there is always an overlying granular road base, again to reduce the possibility of reflection cracking.

2 USA Practice The main design manuals used in the USA are the AASHTO Design of Pavement Structures (AASHTO, 1993) and part II rigid pavement Design (1998). Initial cement contents are recommended for the various soil types (classified under AASHTO designation M145-82) as follows: A1-A3 soils (granular materials): 3.5 7.0 % (by weight) A4-A7 soils (silt clay materials): 7.0 10.0 % (by weight) These are expected to give 7-day strengths of at least 2 MPa. The cement contents given above only form a start point from which laboratory testing is required to achieve the required strength.

3. Austroads Pavement Design Guide. The Australian guide to pavement design (Austroads, 1992) uses the mechanistic approach to road design, which it emphasizes, has been developed for Australian conditions. Pavement materials are characterized by the modulus of elasticity either directly or through correlation with other tests. Eight test methods are given for characterizing stabilized pavement materials. These are ranked in order of preference from flexural testing to presumptive values, being the most and least preferred, respectively. Stabilized sub-bases, below either a stabilized or crushed stone base material, are utilized extensively in the manual as optional pavement materials. There is a substantial saving in sub-base thickness when cemented instead of granular materials are used.

Should the cemented sub-base layer fail through fatigue, the manual permits a continuance of the service life of the sub-base as a granular layer when estimating the total traffic loading that the pavement will survive.

4 South Africa The stabilization of different pavement layers is widely used in South Africa. The standards include the Technical Recommendations for Highways series especially TRH13: Cementitious Stabilizers in Road Construction (1986) and TRH 14 Guidelines for Road Construction Materials (1985). As shown in Table 6, there are four classes of stabilized material C1-C4, where C1 is the strongest. The specification limits become less strict as the material is used further below the road surface. C1 materials are seldom used because of their tendency to form wide shrinkage cracks (Paige-Green, 1998). Material Class C2 (usually cemented crushed stone) is used for a high quality sub-base. The lower strength materials C3 and C4 (cemented natural gravels) are used for lower layers or for bases on low volume roads. Strength requirements for Stabilized materials (TRH 14, 1985)

Additional Standards for Cementitious Stabilized Materials

5. The Philippines The Philippines has a materials and construction manual: Standard Specifications for Public Works and Highways, Volume 2 (DPWH, 1995). Most of the materials tests are based on the American AASHTO methods. It should be noted that the manual does not contain pavement design information. Included in the manual are several specifications for the use of stabilizers in the road base. These are: 1. Lime stabilized - Road Mix Base course (Item 203) 2. Cement stabilized - Road Mix Base course (Item 204) 3. Cement stabilized - Plant Mix Base course (Item 206) Included in the specifications is a strength requirement. The appropriate strength test is dependent upon the type of material, which is either: a) For gravelly soils: CBR test. Material passing the 19mm sieve shall have a minimum soaked CBR of 100 per cent (AASHTO T193), obtained at maximum dry density (AASHTO T180). b) For fine textured soils: UCS test. Seven day compressive strength = Minimum of 2.1 MPa (ASTM 1633).

5. India The Indian Specifications for design are mainly provided in IRC 37 (2012) 5.1 Bound Subbase Layer 5.1.1 The material for bound sub base may consist of soil or aggregate stabilized with cementitious material such as cement, lime-fly ash, commercially available stabilizers etc. The drainage layer of the subbase may consist of coarse graded aggregates bound with about 2% to 3% cement or 2% to 3% bitumen emulsion to prevent distortion in its profile due to construction traffic while retaining the permeability. 5.1.2 Strength Parameter: The relevant strength parameter for bound sub bases is the Elastic Modulus E, which can be determined from the unconfined compressive strength of the material. In case of bound GSB, the laboratory based E value is given by the following equations: Ecgsb = 1000* UCS

On the basis of laboratory testing the E Value achieved is in the range of 2000 to 4000 MPa. However, the design value is recommended as 600 MPa. The same principle will apply for stabilized soil bases, where the recommended E value is 400 MPa (assuming the UCS in the range 0.75 to 1.5 MPa). 5.3 Bound Base Layer 5.3.1 Bound base layers may consist aggregates or soil stabilized with

cementitious stabilizers like cement, lime-flyash-cement or other chemical stabilizers to give a minimum 7 day strength of 4.5 to 7 MPa (IRC: SP-89-2010). Though the initial modulus of the Cementitious bases may be in the range 10000 to 15000 MPa, there is reduction of modulus values up to fifty percent of the initial modulus due to shrinkage and the construction traffic ; and the effective elastic modulus of the Cementitious base will be much less. 5.3.2 Strength parameter: Flexural strength is required for carrying out the fatigue analysis as per fatigue equation. MEPDG suggests for chemically stabilized bases the modulus of rupture can be taken as 20% of the 28 day unconfined compressive strength. The same was adopted in these guidelines. For the initial design, the following values of modulus of rupture are recommended Cementitious stabilized aggregates Lime-cementitious-flyash 1.4 MPa 1.05 MPa

5.3.3 Durability criteria: The minimum cementitious content in the cementitious base layer has been adopted as that in a wetting and drying test (BIS: 4332 (Part IV) - 1968) (9), the loss of weight of cementitious treated aggregates does not exceed 14% after 12 cycles of wetting and drying. Cementitious layer meeting the strength requirements of IRC:SP:89-2010 is required to meet the criteria of durability requirement.

6.0 Engineering properties achieved by use of RBI Grade-81.

6.1 Granular Material for Base Layer

6.2 Granular Material for Sub Base Layer

6.3 Chemically Stabilized Soil for Sub base

6.4 Chemically Stabilized Soil for Base Layer

Thus it may be concluded that RBI Grade-81 meets most of the International Specifications.