Minimum cost design of sulphur concrete pavements'

R. E. Loov, J. E. G I L L O I.
~ ,J. JORDAAN,
AND N. G . SHRIVE
Department of Civil Engirleering. The Utliversity of Calgary, 2500 University Drive N . W . , Ccrlgnry, Alto., C~zrzaclnR N 1N4
Rcceived Deccmber 24, 1982
Revised manuscript accepted June 20. 1983
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Two types of paving materials have traditionally been used for surfaces that must be better than can be provided by rnaterials
such as gravel or soil-cement. Portland-cement concrete has been designed based on procedures that recognize the rigid nature
of this material. Asphaltic concrete has, on the other hand, been designed based on a recognition of the flexible nature of this
material.
We have found that, with minor differences in the amounts of suitable additives, sulphur concrete can be tailored to have
different stiffness characteristics ranging between asphaltic concrete and Portland-cemcnt concrete. With this material we have
an opportunity therefore to choose the material stiffness that will result in the minimum pavement thickness for a given
situation. The optimum rnaterial stiffness has been determined, based on different sub-base stiffnesses for standard wheel loads.
The results of this investigation should be of interest to all engineers faced with the responsibility for designing pavements.
Keywords: pavement, sulphur concrete, minimum cost design, highways.

Deux types de matiriaux furent traditionnellement utilisCs dans la construction de surfaces devant &trede meilleure qualit6
que celle obtenue en utilisant le gravier ou le sol-ciment. Le dimensionnement dcs sections en bCton de ciment portland fut
effectu6 en reconnaissant la nature rigide du matCriau. Le dimensionnement des sections en btton bitumineux fut effectut en
tenant compte de la nature flexible du mat6riau.
En variant quelque peu les quantitCs d'additifs convenables, nous avons trouve que la rigidit6 du btton au soufre peut &tre
For personal use only.

ajust6 h volont6 et varier entre la rigidit6 du bCton bitumineux et celle bu btton de ciment portland. Le matkriau offre la
possibilitt de choisir la rigidit6 correspondant h I'tpaisseur minimum selon la situation.
La rigidit6 optimum du mattriau fut Ctablic en fonction de la rigidit6 de la fondation pour les charges de vthicules standard.
Les risultats de cette Ctude devraient intkresser les ingCnieurs responsables du calcul des chausseCs.
Mots-cle's: chaussCe, b6ton au soufre, cot3 minimum, autoroutes.
[Traduit par la revue]
Can. 1. Civ. Eng. 10, 649-653 (1983)

Asphaltic concrete pavement materials
In spite of the many problems associated with asphalt
concrete it is the most widely used pavement material.
Asphalt concrete becomes less serviceable with time as
loads and the weather exert their influence. Loss of
serviceability due to loads may occur as a result of
plastic deformation, which leads to rutting and shoving,
or may result from flexural cracking of the pavement.
Load-induced flexural cracking may result from
fatigue failure of the lower surface of the pavement,
which is stressed in tension, or may result from fatigue
failure of the sub-base material if ;his latter material is
strained excessively.
Plastic behaviour such as rutting and shoving are
more likely to occur at intersections and bus stops
where vehicles are decelerating, stopping, and acceler-
ating.
Sulphur-extended asphalr
During the last several years sulphur-extended
asphalt (SEA) has been developed in an attempt to
improve the pavement properties by replacing some of
the asphalt with sulphur. The resulting pavement is less
likely to deform plastically, and the fatigue resistance
has been found to be improved (Bergan and Watson
1981).
Portland-cement concrete
Portland-cement concrete is used to produce rigid
pavement that has many good properties. Plastic defor-
mation is not a problem with this material. Because of
the high stiffness of this material it cannot adapt to
uneven settlement.
Subhur concrete
Much research on sulphur concrete has been carried
out during the past 10 years by the authors, who are
members of the University of Calgary Interdisciplinary
Sulphur Research Group (UNISUL). This research has
- -
been directed toward investigating and im~roving - the
properties of sulphur concrete (Loov 1975). It has re-
sulted in the development of a patented formulation'
(Gillott et al. 1980a), which is presently being mar-

'Presented at the Annual Confcrcnce of the Canadian 'The formulation is hydrocarbon-based and is referred to in
Society for Civil Engineering, Edmonton, Alta., Canada, the text as the "additive". The term "% additive" used in this
May 27-28, 1982. article refers to percent by weight of sulphur.
 650 CAN. 1. CIV. ENG. VOL. 10. 1983
TABLE1. Representative dynamic moduli for different soil
ratings
Representative
Soil rating C.B.R. dynamic modulus
-
Very poor subgrade 24 MPa
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Poor subgrade 36
Fair subgrade 54
Medium subgrade 80
Good subgrade 120
Medium sub-base 180
Good sub-base 270
keted through the Sulphur Development lnstitute of
Canada (SUDlC) under the name "SUDICRETE.
Commercial use up to now has been limited to Canada.
Much of our past work has been directed toward the
elimination of durability problems arising from the
presence of swelling clay in the aggregate (Gillott et al.
19806) and toward developing freeze-thaw durability
(Shrive et al. 198 1). During this work it was found that
a variety of sulphur concrete could be produced that has
For personal use only.
better ductility than other sulphur concretes (Jordaan
et al. 19786). While formulations that use dicyclo-
pentadiene (DCPD) to 'plasticise' the sulphur have
good initial ductility, they become brittle after 4 months
ageing, apparently because depolymerization takes
place; samples we have tested that contain additives in
addition to DCPD become brittle after ageing from 5 to
14 months. With the formulation we have developed,
no ageing effect has been observed within 3 years. All
samples were aged under room-temperature (-21°C)
conditions in the open laboratory.
Sulphur concrete as a paving material
When a new material such as sulphur concrete is
developed possible uses must be considered so that
testing and development may be directed to determine
the potential benefits and possible problems associated
with such use. As a potential paving material sulphur
concrete appears to have a number of significant advan-
tages: (a) it should not have the problem of rutting and
shoving, as the material creeps much more slowly than
asphaltic concrete (Jordaan et al. 1 9 7 8 ~ )(b)
; abrasion
resistance is good (Gillott et al. (19806); (c) freeze-
thaw durability can be achieved through the use of
suitable additives (Shrive et al. (1981); and (d) sulphur
concrete can be made with varying stiffnesses (Jordaan
et al. 19786).
Stress calculations
Based on these favourable indications it seemed
appropriate to make some comparisons between the
required thicknesses of sulphur-concrete and asphalt-
concrete pavements under similar loads, while sup-
ported by soils with varying bearing capacity. Cal-
culations were made using a linear 3-dimensional
pavement-analysis program called CHEVS 1M obtained
from the Department of Civil Engineering at the Uni-
versity of California. This program has been modified
so that the required pavement thickness may be found
for different material properties and support conditions.
All calculations have been based on full depth pave-
ment supported directly on the sub-base. This construc-
tion method has been reported (McLeod 1966) to be
cheaper than that used for roads incorporating granular
fill, because the volume of material that has to be trans-
ported is greatly reduced.
Loads and soil properties
Calculations have been based on a load of
80 kN/axle, which is often used as a basis for com-
parison. A tire pressure of 600 kPa has been used to
determine the assumed radius of the loaded area. The
soil properties have been assumed to vary over a rather
wide range. Seven values of the modulus of elasticity
have been chosen (Table l), based on soil ratings and
California bearing-ratio (CBR) values presented by
Sargious (1975), and credited by him to Shell Petro-
leum Company. The representative modulus of elas-
ticity in MPa has been assumed to be roughly equal to
10 times the average CBR for each soil rating. This
relationship is based on Heukelom and Klomp (1962).
Poisson's ratio for soil evidently varies considerably,
depending on soil type. For this study a value of 0.40
has been chosen.
One of the major factors governing the design thick-
ness of a pavement is the requirement to limit the
stresses and strains in the supporting soil. Generally it
is assumed that the vertical stress in the soil directly
under the pavement may be allowed to vary in propor-
tion to its modulus of elasticity. This criterion may be
more simply stated by specifying a constant limiting
compressive strain in soil. The major variable affecting
the limiting strain value is the desired fatigue life.
Peattie (1978) has presented a relationship, which he
credits to Dormon and Metcalf. For a fatigue life of
1 x lo6 load cycles the suggested limiting strain is
650 X This value (which has also been used by
Bergan and Watson (198 1)) has been used in this study.
Properties of sulphur concrete
The properties of sulphur concrete at room tem-
peratures have been determined by tests carried out at
the University of Calgary. Measurements of the modu-
lus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio have been made
using compressive tests on 4 in. X 8 in. (100 mm X
200 mm) specimens. The values shown in Table 2 are
.based on the average of three specimens. The modulus
 LOOV ET AL.

4"x4"x16" PRISMS
12" SPAN
ITlVE
113 POINT LOADING
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l0k // \
NOTE : ASPHALT REACHED MAXIMUM
LOAD OF 135
.. k N AT 5 mm
DISPLACEMENT
I
5 TO 10% ADDITIVE
ASPHALT CONCRETE

DISPLACEMENT, mm

FIG. 1. Load displacement curves.

of elasticity has been based on the slope of the secant TABLE

2. Modulus of elasticity and limiting strain for
For personal use only.

through a point on the load-strain curve corresponding sulphur concrete

to a strain of 800 X for the different sulphur con-
cretes considered in this paper. The load-strain curve is
reasonably close to a straight line within this range.
Poisson's ratio was found to be approximately 0.25 for
all additive percentages for compressive strains of less
than 300 x With no additive this ratio applied
right up to the point of failure. At higher strainlevels
sulphur concretes that contain additives to increase
ductility have progressively higher Poisson's ratio
values. This increase in the measured Poisson's ratio is
probably not a real increase, but is simply a result of
vertical cracking as the concrete is compressed.
Because the present analysis has been based on strains
not exceeding 150 x a Poisson's ratio of 0.25 has
been used.
Figure 1 compares typical load-displacement curves
for modulus-of-rupture test specimens loaded under
constant strain to failure. These 4 in. ( 102 mm) X 4 in.
(102 mm) x 16 in. (406 mm) specimens were loaded
at the one-third points of a 12 in. (305 mm) gauge
length. The sulphur concrete can be made to have
various load-displacement curves, as shown, simply
by changing the additive level. The cost is essentially
constant because the additive cost is relatively
insignificant.
The limiting tensile strain that a given paving materi-
al can be subjected to depends on the desired fatigue
life. Previous fatigue tests on sulphur concrete indicate
that this material has a very flat S-N curve (Lee and
Klaiber 1981). In our tests we found that specimens
with 10% additive loaded to 95% of their static strength
% additive E (MPa) Limiting strain
failed at from 172 000 to 1 7000 000 cycles. (Similar
tests of asphalt concrete stressed to 95% failed at an
average of 56 000 cycles, with a range of 32 860 to
75 580 for 5 specimens).
Ten other samples of sulphur concrete with either 0 %
or 10% additive loaded to 75% to 85% of the average
static failure load did not fail at the maximum number
of cycles imposed on them. Seven specimens were sub-
jected to 500 000 cycles, two to 1 000 000 cycles, and
one to 1 500 000 cycles of loading. Based on these
fatigue tests and modulus of rupture tests, a limiting
strain was determined for each sulphur concrete, and
corresponded to approximately 90% of the average
strain at maximum load obtained in the modulus of
rupture tests. Although these strain values were consid-
ered adequate for these initial comparisons, further
testing will be required in order to choose a strain limit
that will provide equal fatigue resistance for sulphur
concrete with different levels of additive. The limiting
strains for the sulphur concrete are shown in Table 2.
Properties of asphaltic concrete
It is particularly difficult to choose values for the
 652 CAN. I . CIV. ENG. VOL. 10. 1983
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C B R %
FIG.2. Pavement thickness limited by vertical soil strain.
modulus of elasticity and the appropriate limiting
values of strain for asphaltic concrete. The modulus of
elasticity is particularly affected by loading rate and by
For personal use only.
temperature. Finn (1967) has provided information on
the stiffness of asphaltic concrete specimens. The aver-
age flexural stiffness with a 0.1 s cycle time for as-
phaltic concrete tested at 68°F (20°C) was found to be
approximately 1000 MPa, while at 40°F (4°C) the stiff-
ness was approximately 3600 MPa. Peattie (1978) indi-
cated that the effective stiffness of asphalt can be ex-
pected to vary markedly depending on the vehicle
speed. At 20°C the effective stiffness may be expected
to double as the speed is increased from 10 km/h to
100 km/h. Brown (1978) has stated that the loading
time in seconds may be obtained approximately as the
reciprocal of the vehicle speed in km/h.
For the calculations used in this comparison between
asphaltic concrete and sulphur concrete a minimum
stiffness of 1000 MPa has been used at +20°C, and a
stiffness of 4000 MPa has been used for a temperature
of 4°C.
The limiting strains for asphaltic concrete have been
based on the fatigue life equations developed by Bergan
and Watson (198 1). For 20°C they found N =
11.06 x (1 /E)'.'", where N is the number of load
repetitions and E is the limiting strain. The limiting
strain for an N of 1 X 10' is therefore 230 x
4°C the corresponding fatigue life equation is
N = 3.256 X ( 1 / ~ ) ' . ' ~which
~ gives a limiting
strain of 80 X for a fatigue life of lo6 standard
axle loads.
Results
Figure 2 indicates the required thickness of pavement
for different soil stiffnesses, limited by a vertical com-
FIG. 3. Pavement thickness limited by tangential tensile
strains.
pressive strain of 650 x lo-' in the soil. It is apparent
that the required pavement thickness reduces as the E,
modulus of elasticity, of the pavement is increased. The
sulphur-concrete pavement would not need to be as
thick as asphaltic concrete pavement.
Figure 3 indicates the required pavement thickness
for different soil stiffnesses, limited by the tangential
tensile strain at the lower surface of the pavement. The
required pavement thicknesses are affected by the elas-
tic modulus of the paving material and by the limiting
tensile strain allowed in the pavement. Again the calcu-
lations indicate that substantial reductions in pavement
thickness could be made by using sulphur concrete.
Although the calculations indicate that the thinnest
pavements could be made using sulphur concrete with-
out additives, this is not practical if the failure charac-
teristics and the durability of the different sulphur con-
cretes are considered. The sulphur concrete without
additive breaks in a very brittle manner. The sulphur
concrete with 2% additive may have sufficient ductility
to work satisfactorily, but is still rather brittle. Sulphur
concrete with from 5% to 10% additive fails in a more
ductile manner, as indicated in the typical load dis-
placement curve for the rupture specimens shown in
Fig. 1. The additional ductility is considered necessary
For so that the pavement can follow some of the unequal
settlement of the subgrade without fracturing.
Conclusions
Based on information available to this date, it ap-
pears that sulphur concrete modified to obtain ductility
and improved durability warrants serious consideration
as a paving material. Further study is needed to ascer-
tain whether other problems such as low-temperature
 LOOV ET AL.
cracking may be a problem, and whether sulphur con-
crete performs satisfactorily as a wearing course
material. For future work it would probably be de-
sirable to use a non-linear method of analysis, which
could more closely follow the actual properties of the
soil and the pavement.
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Acknowledgements
W e wish to acknowledge financial support from the
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of
Canada and from the Sulphur Development lnstitute of
Canada, who have provided financial support for this
research. The able assistance of our technicians, Mr.
Pollard and Mr. Urquhart, is also gratefully acknowl-
edged.
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BROWN,S. F. 1978. Material characteristics for analytical
pavement design. I n Developments in highway pavement
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Publishers, London, pp. 93- 126.
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