Topic 6: Highway Material and

Construction: Mix Design—Part

One
CSE29357
Highway Engineering
Dr. Yuhong Wang
Professor
Fall 2020

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 Contents
 Overview of Highway Construction Materials
 Characterization of Soils
 Characterization and Design of Bituminous
Mixture
 Aggregate
 Binder
 Mixture Design
 Highway Construction Videos

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Mixture Design

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Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) Mix Designs
 Objective:
 Develop an economical blend of aggregates and
asphalt that meet design requirements
 Mix design methods
 Marshall
 Hveem
 Superpave

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 Requirements in Common
 Sufficient asphalt to ensure a durable pavement
 Sufficient stability under traffic loads
 Sufficient air voids
 Upper limit to prevent excessive environmental
damage
 Lower limit to allow room for initial densification due
to traffic
 Sufficient workability

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 Marshall Mix Design
 Developed by Bruce Marshall for the
Mississippi Highway Department in the late
30’s
 Waterway Experiment Station (WES) began to
study it in 1943 for WWII
 Evaluated compaction effort
• No. of blows, foot design, etc.
• Decided on 10 lb. Hammer, 50 blows/side
• 4% voids after traffic

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Automatic Marshall Hammer

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 Marshall Mix Design
 Select and test aggregate
 Select and test asphalt cement
 Develop trial blends at different asphalt
contents
 Heat and mix asphalt cement and aggregates
 Compact specimen (100 mm diameter) using
Marshall hammer
 Conduct Marshall tests and determine the
optimum asphalt content

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 Marshall Test Key Information
 Theoretical maximum density
 Actual density
 Voids in total mix (Air void) %
 Voids in mineral aggregate %
 Voids filled with binder %
 Marshall stability (kN)
 Marshall flow (mm)

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Marshall Test Key Information

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Marshall Test Key Information

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 Marshall Test Key Information
100
(a) Theoretical max. density  t 
100  Pb Pb

Gse Gb
where Pb % = percentage by weight of binder in the mixture
Gse = Effective Specific Gravity of the mixed aggregate
Gb = Specific gravity of binder; Hence, γb = γw Gb
w = Density of water = 1.0 g/cm3 = 1000 kg/m3

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 Marshall Test Key Information
(b) Voids in total mix (air void) %

where = measured density of specimen =

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 Marshall Test Key Information
(c) Voids in mineral aggregate, VMA %

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 Marshall Test Key Information
(d) Voids filled with bitumen (VFB % )

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 Example
 A bituminous mixture consists of 93.5% of
mixed aggregate (Gse=2.6) and 6.5% of
bitumen (S.G.=1.03) by weight. The bulk
density of the compacted mixture is 2.322
g/cm3. Calculate the percentages of air voids,
voids in mineral aggregates, and voids filled
with bitumen.

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 BSG of Compacted HMA
 AC mixed with agg. and compacted into
sample

Mass agg. and AC

Gmb =
Vol. agg., AC, air voids
 Testing

 Mixing of asphalt and aggregate

 Compaction of sample
 Mass of dry sample
 Mass under water
 Mass saturated surface dry (SSD)
Testing
Obtain mass of dry
compacted sample
Testing

Obtain mass of specimen

at SSD
 Calculations
 Gmb = A / ( B - C )

Where:
A = mass of dry sample
B = mass of SSD sample
C = mass of sample under water
Maximum Specific Gravity
 Loose (uncompacted) mixture

Mass agg. and AC

Gmm =
Vol. agg. and AC
 Testing

 Mixing of asphalt and aggregate

 Mass in air
 Mass under water
Testing
Loose Mix at
Room
Temperature
 Testing
Residual
Manometer

Metal Bowl with Lid

Vacuum Pump

Shaker Table
 Calculations
 Gmm = A / ( A - C )

Where:
A = mass of dry sample
C = mass of sample under water
 Percent Air Voids
 Calculated using both specific gravities

Gmb
Air voids = ( 1 - ) 100
Gmm

Mass agg + AC
Vol. agg, AC, Air Voids Vol. agg, AC
=
Mass agg + AC Vol. agg, AC, Air Voids
Vol. agg, AC
 Marshall Stability and Flow
 Marshall Test
 Specimen is preheated and placed
in the testing head
 Load is applied at the rate of 50
mm/min
 A dial gauge is used to measure
the vertical deformation
 Marshall Stability is the Max
Load (in kN) required to
produce failure
 Marshall Flow is the
deformation depth (in mm) at
the failure load
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HK Specifications for Typical
Bituminous Materials

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 Marshall Design Use of Data
Asphalt Institute Procedure
Air Voids, Stability Unit Wt.
%

4%

Asphalt Content, % Asphalt Content, % Asphalt Content, %

Target optimum asphalt content = average

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 Marshall Design Use of Data
Asphalt Institute Procedure
Flow VMA, %

Maximum OK
OK
Minimum

Asphalt Content, % Asphalt Content, %

Use target optimum asphalt content

to check if these criteria are met
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 Marshall Design Method
 Advantages
 Attention on voids, strength, durability
 Inexpensive equipment
 Easy to use in process control/acceptance

 Disadvantages
 Impact method of compaction
 Does not consider shear strength
 Load perpendicular to compaction axis

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