HOT MIX ASPHALT (HMA) – DESIGN

What is HMA?

▪ HMA consists of a combination of aggregates uniformly

mixed and coated with asphalt cement.
▪ To dry the aggregates and to obtain sufficient fluidity of
the asphalt cement for proper mixing and workability,
both must be heated prior to mixing – giving origin to the
term “ Hot Mix”.
▪ The aggregates and asphalt are combined in a hot mix
plant in which they are proportioned, heated, and mixed
to produce the desired paving mixture.
 Why do we need to design the Mix?

▪ To determine the optimum quantities of the component

materials for a specific application.
▪ To be specific, we need to determine the optimum
blending ratios of asphalt, filler, and aggregate to be used
in HMA.
▪ Thus, we need to answer what asphalt to use, what filler
to use, what aggregate to use, and what should be the
optimum combinations of these three materials.
 What are the basic requirements of the Mix?

▪ Should have “sufficient asphalt” to ensure a durable

pavement
▪ Should have “sufficient mix stability” to satisfy the
demands of traffic without distortion or displacement
▪ Should have “sufficient voids” in the total compacted mix
to allow for additional compaction under traffic loading
without flushing, bleeding, and loss of stability, yet low
enough to keep out harmful air and moisture.
▪ Should have “sufficient workability” to permit efficient
placement of the mix without segregation.
What factors should be considered in HMA design?
1) Stability

2) Durability

3) Flexibility

4) Fatigue Resistance

5) Skid Resistance

6) Permeability

7) Workability
 What factors should be considered in HMA design?
Stability: ability to resist deformation from imposed loads. Depends
on surface texture, gradation of aggregate, quantity and type of
asphalt
Durability: ability to resist the detrimental effects of air, water,
temperature and traffic. Changes in the characteristics of asphalt,
changes in the aggregate due to water, wear, tear
Flexibility: ability of the mix to be able to bend slightly, without
cracking, and to conform to gradual settlements and movements
of the base and subgrade
Fatigue resistance: ability of the pavement to withstand repeated
flexing caused by the passage of wheel loads. Higher the asphalt
content, greater the fatigue resistance. Dense-graded bitumen
mixes have more fatigue resistance than open-graded mixes
 What factors should be considered in HMA design?
Skid resistance: ability of the bituminous pavement to offer
resistance to slipping or skidding

Permeability: property related to the tendency of the bituminous

material to allow the passage of water and air through the pavement
system.

Workability: ease with which paving mixtures can be laid and

compacted
 Mix Design Concepts
What is Mix Design?
▪ Mix design is a laboratory simulation
▪ Meant to simulate actual HMA manufacturing,
construction and performance to the maximum possible
extent
▪ From the laboratory simulation, one can predict to a
reasonable accuracy – what type of mix design is best
suited for a particular application or how the mix will
perform
 Mix Design Concepts
What are the limitations of mix design?
▪ Substantial differences between laboratory and field
conditions.
▪ Small laboratory setup consisting of several 100 - 150
mm (4 - 6 inch) samples, a compaction machine and a
couple of testing devices cannot fully simulate the actual
manufacturing, construction and performance conditions.
▪ For instance, mix design compaction should create the
same general density (void content) to which the traffic
will finally compact a mix in the field under service
conditions.
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
▪ Mix design is volumetric in nature. That is, aggregate,
filler, and asphalt are combined on a volume basis as
opposed to weight basis.
▪ Volume measurements are made indirectly by determining
the material’s weight and specific gravity and then
calculating its volume.
▪ Mix design is meant to determine the volume of asphalt
binder, filler, aggregates, and air voids necessary to
produce a mixture with the desired properties.
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Weight and volume terms are abbreviated as Gxy, where,
x: b = binder;
s = stone;
m = mixture
y: b = bulk;
e = effective;
a = apparent;
m = maximum
For example, Gmm = specific gravity, mixture, maximum
= maximum specific gravity of the mixture
Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:

Vba
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:

▪ Due to porous nature of mineral aggregate, it can absorb asphalt

to a variable degree – i.e. asphalt absorption varies with type of
aggregate
▪ Some amount of asphalt goes inside the aggregate pores, called the
absorbed asphalt, and this asphalt remains ineffective as far as the
mix behaviour is concerned
▪ There can be some portion of air voids within the aggregate which
remain inaccessible to asphalt
Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Apparent Specific Gravity (Gsa)
▪ The volume measurement only includes the volume of the
aggregate particle; it does not include the volume of any water
permeable voids
▪ The mass measurement only includes the aggregate particle
▪ Apparent specific gravity is intended to only measure the specific
gravity of the solid volume, therefore it will be the highest of the
aggregate specific gravities
▪ It is defined as the ratio of the mass of a unit volume of the
impermeable portion of aggregate (does not include the permeable
pores in aggregate) to the mass of an equal volume of gas-free
distilled water at the stated temperature
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Bulk Specific Gravity or Bulk Dry Specific Gravity (Gsb)
▪ The volume measurement includes the overall volume of the
aggregate particle as well as the volume of the water permeable
voids
▪ The mass measurement only includes the aggregate particle
▪ Since it includes the water permeable void volume, bulk specific
gravity will be less than apparent specific gravity
▪ It is defined as the ratio of the mass of a unit volume of aggregate,
including the water permeable voids, at a stated temperature to the
mass of an equal volume of gas-free distilled water at the stated
temperature
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Bulk Saturated Surface Dry Specific Gravity (GSSD )
▪ The volume measurement includes the overall volume of the
aggregate particle as well as the volume of the water permeable
voids
▪ The mass measurement includes the aggregate particle as well as
the water within the water permeable voids
▪ It is defined as the ratio of the mass of a unit volume of aggregate,
including the weight of water within the voids filled to the extent
achieved by submerging in water for approximately 15 hours, to the
mass of an equal volume of gas-free distilled water at the stated
temperature
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Effective Specific Gravity (Gse )
▪ The volume measurement includes the overall volume of the
aggregate particle plus the void volume that becomes filled with
water during the test soak period minus the volume of the voids
that absorb asphalt
▪ Effective specific gravity lies between apparent and bulk specific
gravity
▪ It is defined as the ratio of the mass in air of a unit volume of a
permeable material (excluding voids permeable to asphalt) at a
stated temperature to the mass in air (of equal density) of an equal
volume of gas-free distilled water at a stated temperature
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Bulk Specific Gravity of the Compacted Asphalt Mixture (Gmb):
The ratio of the mass in air of a unit volume of a permeable material
(including both permeable and impermeable voids normal to the
material) at a stated temperature to the mass in air (of equal density)
of an equal volume of gas-free distilled water at a stated temperature.
▪ For saturated surface dry specimens,

WD
Gmb =
WSSD − Wsub
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Theoretical Maximum Specific Gravity (Gmm):
The ratio of the mass of a given volume of voidless (Va = 0) HMA
at a stated temperature (usually 25 °C) to a mass of an equal volume
of gas-free distilled water at the same temperature
▪ Also called Rice Specific Gravity
▪ Multiplying Gmm by the unit weight of water gives Theoretical
Maximum Density (TMD)
1
Gmm =
1 − Pb Pb 
 G +G 
 se b
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Air Voids (Va):
▪ Small airspaces or pockets of air that occur between the coated
aggregate particles in the final compacted mix
▪ Certain percentage of air voids is necessary in HMA to allow for
some additional pavement compaction under traffic and to provide
spaces into which small amounts of asphalt can flow during this
subsequent compaction
▪ Allowable percentage of air voids (in laboratory specimens) is
between 3 to 5% for most surface course mixes
VV  Gmb 
Va = x100 Va = 1 −  x100
VT  Gmm 
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Air Voids (Va):
▪ Durability of an asphalt pavement is a function of the air-voids
▪ Lower the air-voids, the less permeable the mixture becomes
▪ Higher air-voids provides passageways through the mix for the
entrance of damaging air and water
▪ Low air-void content can lead to flushing, a condition in which excess
asphalt squeezes out of the mix to the surface
▪ Density and void content are directly related - higher the density, the
lower the percentage of voids in the mix, and vice versa
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Voids in Total Mix (VTM):
▪ that part of the compacted mixture not occupied by aggregate or
asphalt expressed as a percentage of the total volume

▪ synonymous with air voids

▪ complement of the percent density when based upon the maximum

specific gravity (Gmm)

▪ VTM obtained in the Mix Design gives an indication of whether the

mix can be compacted adequately in the field
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Voids in Mineral Aggregate (VMA):
▪ the air-void spaces that exist between the aggregate particles in a
compacted paving mixture, including spaces filled with asphalt
▪ represents the space that is available to accommodate the asphalt and
the volume of air voids necessary in the mixture
▪ the more VMA in the dry aggregate, the more space is available for
the film of asphalt
▪ excessive VMA will cause unacceptably low mixture stability
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Voids in Mineral Aggregate (VMA):
▪ when VMA is too low, there is not enough room in the mixture to add
sufficient asphalt binder to adequately coat the individual aggregate
particles
▪ mixes with a low VMA are more sensitive to small changes in asphalt
binder content
▪ a minimum VMA is specified and a maximum VMA may or may not
be specified

VV + Vbe  Gmb (1 − Pb )
VMA = x100 VMA = 1 −  x100
VT  Gsb 
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Voids Filled with Asphalt (VFA):
▪ percentage of voids in the compacted aggregate mass that are filled
with asphalt
▪ synonymous with the asphalt-void ratio
▪ represents the volume of the effective asphalt content
▪ also be described as the percent of the volume of the VMA that is
filled with asphalt
▪ inversely related to air voids: as air voids decrease, the VFA increases
Vbe VMA − Va
VFA = x100 VFA = VFA = VMA − Pa
Vbe + VV VMA
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Asphalt Content:
▪ optimum asphalt content of a mix is highly dependent on aggregate
characteristics such as gradation and absorptiveness
▪ when discussing absorbed and unabsorbed asphalt, technologists
discuss two types of asphalt content: total asphalt content and
effective asphalt content.
▪ total asphalt content is the amount of asphalt that must be added to
the mixture to produce the desired mix qualities
▪ effective asphalt content (Pbe) is the volume of asphalt not
absorbed by the aggregate
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Asphalt Content:
▪ effective asphalt content is calculated by subtracting the amount of
absorbed asphalt from the total asphalt content
▪ absorptiveness of an aggregate is an important consideration in
determining the asphalt content of a mixture
▪ aggregate gradation is directly related to optimum asphalt content
▪ finer the mix gradation, the larger the total surface area of the
aggregate and the greater the amount of asphalt required to uniformly
coat the particle – conversely, because coarser mixes have less total
aggregate surface area, they demand less asphalt
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Asphalt Content:
▪ relationship between aggregate surface area and optimum asphalt
content is most pronounced where filler material (very fine aggregate
fractions which pass through the 0.075 mm sieve) is involved
▪ small increases in the amount of filler in a gradation can literally
absorb much of the asphalt binder, resulting in a dry, unstable mix
▪ small decreases have the opposite effect: too little filler results in too
rich (wet) a mixture
▪ variations in filler content will cause changes in mix properties, from
dry to wet
 Mix Design Concepts
HMA weight-volume terms and relationships:
Fines to Asphalt Ratio (F/A):
▪ is an indication of the film thickness of coated particles
▪ film thickness helps reduce premature aging and reduce moisture
damage
Volume of Absorbed Asphalt:
▪ volume of asphalt binder that has been absorbed into the pore
structure of the aggregate
▪ it is the volume of the asphalt binder in HMA that is not accounted
for by the effective asphalt content
What are the different methods of HMA design?

1) Hveem Method

2) Marshall Method

3) Superpave Method

In India, we follow Marshall Method of Mix Design!!!

Marshall Method of Mix Design
▪ Basic concepts of the Marshall mix design method were originally
developed by Bruce Marshall of the Mississippi Highway
Department in 1939
▪ U.S. Corps of Engineers, through extensive research and
correlation studies, improved and added certain features to
Marshall’s test procedure, and ultimately developed mix design
criteria
▪ Marshall method seeks to select the asphalt binder content at a
desired density that satisfies minimum stability and range of flow
values.
Marshall Method of Mix Design
▪ During World War II, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began
evaluating various HMA mix design methods for use in airfield
pavement design
▪ Motivation for this search came from the ever-increasing wheel
loads and tire pressures produced by larger and larger military
aircrafts
▪ Early work at the U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station (WES)
in 1943 had the objective of developing:
“...a simple apparatus suitable for use with the present California Bearing
Ratio (CBR) equipment to design and control asphalt paving mixtures...”
Marshall Method of Mix Design
▪ WES took the original Marshall Stability Test and added a
deformation measurement (using a flow meter) that was reasoned
to assist in detecting excessively high asphalt contents.
▪ This appended test was eventually recommended for adoption by
the U.S. Army because:
• It was designed to stress the entire sample rather than just a
portion of it
• It facilitated rapid testing with minimal effort
• It was compact, light and portable
• It produced densities reasonably close to field densities
Marshall Method of Mix Design
▪ The Marshall mix design method consists of 6 basic steps:

1) Aggregate selection

2) Asphalt binder selection

3) Sample preparation (including compaction)

4) Stability determination using Marshall stability and flow test

5) Density and voids calculations

6) Optimum asphalt binder content selection

Marshall Method of Mix Design
Step 1: Aggregate selection
1) Determination of aggregate physical properties : this consists of
running various tests to determine properties such as:
• toughness and abrasion
• durability and soundness
• cleanliness and deleterious materials
• particle shape and surface texture
2) Determination of other aggregate descriptive physical properties:
• Gradation and size
• Specific gravity and absorption
3) Blending calculations to achieve mix design aggregate gradation
Marshall Method of Mix Design
Step 2: Asphalt binder selection
▪ Marshall test does not have a common generic asphalt binder
selection and evaluation procedure

▪ In India, IRC specifies an appropriate binder depending on climatic

conditions and availability

▪ Once the binder is selected, several preliminary tests are run to

determine the asphalt binder's temperature-viscosity relationship –
necessary to arrive at mixing and compaction temperatures
Marshall Method of Mix Design
Step 3: Sample Preparation

▪ typically 6 blends with 3 samples each for a total of 18 specimens

▪ trial blends must contain a range of asphalt contents both above

and below the optimum asphalt content

▪ compaction of a 102 mm diameter, 64 mm height cylindrical

sample by a 4536 g hammer falling freely for 457.2 mm

▪ 50 or 75 blows on either side based on anticipated traffic levels

 Marshall Method of Mix Design
Step 4: Stability and flow test
▪ Stability portion of the test
measures the maximum load
supported by the test specimen
at a loading rate of 50.8
mm/min. at 60 C
▪ Load is increased until it reaches a maximum then when the load just
begins to decrease, the loading is stopped and the maximum load is
recorded
▪ During loading, an attached dial gauge measures the specimen’s plastic
flow as a result of the loading. The flow value is recorded in 0.25 mm
increments at the same time the maximum load is recorded
 Marshall Method of Mix Design
Step 4: Stability and flow test
Typical Marshall Design Criteria

Light traffic Medium traffic Heavy traffic

Mix criteria (< 104 ESALs ) (104 – 106 ESALs ) (> 106 ESALs )
Min. Max. Min. Max. Min. Max.
Compaction
(number of blows on 35 50 75
each end of the sample)
Stability (min.) 2224 N 3336 N 6672 N
Flow (0.25 mm) 8 20 8 18 8 16
Percent Air Voids 3 5 3 5 3 5
Marshall Method of Mix Design
Step 5: Density and Void Analysis
Necessary to calculate the following parameters:

▪ Bulk specific gravity (Gmb)

▪ Theoretical maximum specific gravity (TMD, Gmm)

▪ Air voids (Va), also expressed as voids in the total mix (VTM)

▪ Voids in the mineral aggregate (VMA)

▪ Voids filled with asphalt (VFA)

Marshall Method of Mix Design
Step 6: Selection of optimum asphalt binder
 Summary
We discussed:
▪ What is HMA
▪ Why do we need to design the mix
▪ Basic requirements of the mix
▪ Factors to be considered in HMA design
▪ Mix Design Concepts
▪ Marshall method of mix design
Simple Performance Test (SPT)
▪ Experimental construction projects raised the question of whether
the Superpave volumetric mix design method alone is sufficient to
ensure reliable mixture performance over a wide range of traffic and
climatic conditions.
▪ Industry has expressed the need for a simple “push-pull” type of test
to complement the Superpave volumetric mix design method,
especially for use on design-build or warranty projects.
▪ In response to this, FHWA committed funding in 1996 to identify
and evaluate a simplified test method.
▪ FHWA referred it as a “simple strength or performance test” that
should provide reliable information on the probable performance of
the HMA during the volumetric mixture design process using the
Superpave Gyratory Compactor (SGC).
▪ Envisioned to play a key role in the quality control and
acceptance of HMA mixtures
Simple Performance Test (SPT)
▪ Developed to complement and support the Superpave
volumetric mix design method
▪ Main objective is to identify and validate SPTs for
permanent deformation, fatigue cracking, and low
temperature cracking
▪ Three parameters were identified for SPT permanent
deformation:
i. dynamic modulus term E*/sin (determined from triaxial
dynamic modulus test)
ii. flow time (FT) determined from triaxial static creep test
iii. Flow number (FN) determined from triaxial repeated load
test
Simple Performance Test (SPT)
▪ For fatigue cracking, the parameter identified was the
dynamic modulus (E*) measured at low test temperatures
▪ For low temperature cracking, the parameter identified
was the creep compliance measured by the indirect
tensile creep test at long loading times and low
temperatures.
▪ Definition of SPT:
“A test method(s) that accurately and reliably measures a
mixture response characteristic or parameter that is
highly correlated to the occurrence of pavement distress
(e.g., cracking and rutting) over a diverse range of traffic
and climatic conditions.”
Thank You