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Performance of cement modified dense graded cold-mix asphalt and

establishing mathematical model

Article  in  Indian Journal of Engineering and Materials Sciences · January 2007

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Indian Journal of Engineering & Materials Sciences
Vol. 13, December 2006, pp. 512-519

Performance of cement modified dense graded cold-mix asphalt and establishing

mathematical model
Seref Oruc*, Fazil Celik & Atakan Aksoy
Civil Engineering Department, Karadeniz Technical University, 61080 Trabzon, Turkey
Received 5 December 2005; accepted 25 September 2006
Cold-mix asphalts have several advantages regarding economical, ecological and logistical aspects over hot-mix
asphalts. But, cold-mix asphalts have poor performance and are deteriorated in case of additional external water entrance
before mixture curing is completed. This study has been focused on to solve these problems and present an alternative to hot
mixtures. Cold-mix asphalt specimens with dense graded aggregate were prepared according to Marshall method for
emulsified asphalt-aggregate cold mixture design. Portland cement has been substituted for mineral filler in an increased
percent, from 0% to 6%. Cold-mix asphalt specimens have been prepared with 4.2%, 5.2% and 6.2% of residual asphalt
contents. Indirect tensile test, static and repeated load asphalt creep tests, and water damage test have been performed on the
specimens. In addition to these tests, the moisture losses of specimens that took place in time are also measured. Based on
the experimental work, it has been concluded that dense graded cement modified emulsion mixtures are of great
performance compared to hot mixtures with the same aggregate grading and bitumen content. A mathematical model has
also been developed for determining the resilient modulus of cold-mix asphalt.
IPC Code: C08L95/00

The use of cement in asphalt mixtures is not a new
concept. Portland cement was used primarily as filler
in hot-mix asphalt to prevent stripping of the binder
from previously dried aggregate. It was also used to
enhance the coating of wet aggregate with bitumen or
tar1. Schmidt and Graf2 showed also a dramatic water
resistance and with some aggregates a large increase
in the dry modulus of resilience (Mr) of the hot mixes
were imparted by adding the cement and lime as a
slurry to the aggregate 24 h before the hot mix was
made.
Schmidt et al.3 studied the effect of adding cement
in an attempt to improve the slow development of
strength of emulsion-treated mixes. The cement was
added to the aggregate at the time the asphalt
emulsion was incorporated. It was concluded that
mixes treated in this way cured faster, developed a
high Mr more rapidly, and were more resistant to
water damage. Terrel and Wang4 had shown that the
rate of development of Mr in emulsion-treated mixes
is greatly accelerated by the addition of cement.
Head5 reported that the addition of cement had a
very significant effect on mix stability; addition of 1%
produced an increase in stability of 250-300% over
that of untreated specimens. Specimens without
__________
*For correspondence (E-mail: oruc@ktu.edu.tr)
cement immersed in water after stability tests
disintegrated after 24 h, whereas cement-treated
specimens indicated no deterioration.
Dardak6 also reported that addition of cement to
sand emulsion mixtures increased stability of 200-
300%. Because of this, thickness of bituminous
coating is normally 22 cm and it is decreased to 12 cm
by using of cement added emulsion.
Uemura and Nakamori7 stated to be used to normal
Portland cement in emulsion mixtures for years in
Japan. They pointed out that performance of these
mixtures was at acceptable level in environmental
conditions.
A study8, which was carried out by OECD in
France, with regard to the spent energy by taking into
consideration the production, transportation, mixture,
and distribution of the area and spreading out of
emulsion mixtures compared with hot mixtures.
According to this comparison, it was reported that
cold mix named as “Grave Emulsion” supplied an
energy saving of 50%.
In a study9 carried out on asphalt emulsion
mixtures, or cold mix was put forward that
mechanical properties were affected by a number of
parameters, including binder grade, void content,
curing time and additives such as cement. In addition
to this, field trials have been indicated that cold mix
 ORUC et al.: MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF COLD-MIX ASPHALT 513

can be produced using conventional hot mix plant and Table 1— Aggregate gradation
laid using similar techniques. Besides, it has been
found that emulsion droplet coalescence was affected Sieve size Gradation limits Used gradation
by pressure, bitumen type, emulsifier level, cement % Passing % Passing
Inch mm
and temperature and that cement causes emulsion
3/4" 19.1 100 100
charges to become more positive (or less negative)
but other parameters had no effect on charge. 1/2" 12.7 77-100 86
An experimental investigation was conducted on a 3/8" 9.52 66-84 74
three-phase cement-asphalt emulsion composite No. 4 4.76 46-66 56
(CAEC) by Li at al.10. Laboratory tests on fatigue,
strength, rigidity, temperature susceptibility and No. 10 2.0 30-50 38
stress-strain relationship were performed to evaluate No. 40 0.42 12-28 18
the mechanical properties of the CAEC. The No. 80 0.177 7-18 9
preliminary test results showed that CAEC possessed
No. 200 0.074 4-10 6
most of the characteristics of both cement and asphalt,
namely the longer fatigue life and lower temperature Table 2 — Aggregate properties
susceptibility of cement concrete, and higher
Test name Test result
toughness and flexibility of asphalt concrete.
Potti et al.11 declared in their studies that the Coarse aggregate (ASTM C127)
purpose of their research program was to create a Bulk Specific Gravity (g/cm3) 2.698
methodology for the development of slow-setting Apparent Specific Gravity (g/cm ) 3
2.714
cationic emulsion and their use in the manufacturing
of an extend range of road paving materials. Absorption (%) 0.33
The use of asphalt emulsion in Turkey is largely Fine aggregate (ASTM C128)
restricted to various types of surface treatment (such Bulk Specific Gravity (g/cm3) 2.683
as slurry surfacing and surface dressing) and 3
bond/tack coat. Recently, efforts have been to the use Apparent Specific Gravity (g/cm ) 2.735
of emulsions in mixtures used for trench Absorption (%) 0.62
reinstatements and patching. It is used as a binder in Mineral filler (ASTM D854)
cold mix for structural layers. This has attracted
Apparent Specific Gravity (g/cm3) 2.743
relatively little attention, largely because of the
problems associated with the time taken for full L. A. Abrasion (%, ASTM C131) 23.57
strength to be achieved after paving and the Polishing Value (BS 813) 0.47
susceptibility to early life damage by rainfall. The
Sodium Sulphate Soundness (%, ASTM C88) 2.44
research was done in order to solve the problems and
provide an improved insight into how the mechanical
properties of cold mix might be improved. Besides, a
Cationic slow setting emulsion (CSS-1) was used
mathematical model has been developed for resilient
throughout the experimental program. The results of
modulus using results obtained from experimental
the characterization tests of the emulsion and
studies. It was shown that the resilient modulus can be
emulsion residue determined by ASTM are presented
estimated using such mathematical model.
in Table 3, along with their specification limits.
Experimental Procedure All Marshall Specimens produced for this research
Materials were prepared according to Marshall method for
The aggregate used in this study is crushed emulsified asphalt-aggregate cold mixture design12.
limestone and the gradation is shown in Table 1. Emulsified asphalt’s ability to coat an aggregate is
Physical properties of the aggregate, which contains usually sensitive to the pre-mix water content of the
coarse aggregate, fine aggregate and mineral filler aggregate. This is especially true for aggregates
determined by ASTM and BS standards are shown in containing a high percentage of material passing a 75
Table 2. Cement used in the study was PC 42.5 µm (No. 200) sieve, where insufficient pre-mixing
cement with a specific gravity of 3.108 g/cm3. water results in balling of the asphalt with the fines
514 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., DECEMBER 2006

Table 3 — Test results for as delivered emulsion and emulsion residue

Test Test results Specification limits
Min. Max.
Viscosity, Saybolt-Furol, 25oC, s. (ASTM D88) 22 20 100
Settlement, 5 day, % (ASTM D6930) 0.1 --- 5
1 Day Storage Stability, % (ASTM D6930) 0.03 --- 1
Charge (ASTM WK11296) Positive Positive
Sieve Test, % (ASTM WK11294) 0.01 --- 0.10
pH (ASTM D1293) 5.37 --- 6.5
Residue by Distillation, % (ASTM D6997) 63.0 57 ---
Residue tests
Penetration, 25oC, 100 g, 5 s. (ASTM D5) 125 100 200
Ductility, 25oC, 5 cm/min, cm (ASTM D113) 84 40 ---
Solubility, % (ASTM D2042) 99 97.5 ---
Ash, % (ASTM D5040) 0.5 --- 2.0

and insufficient coating. For this reason, the coating
tests were performed at various aggregate water
contents. According to aggregate gradation,
percentage on aggregate mix of the emulsion was
made of at 6.69%. It was decided to have a pre-mix
water is 3.5% along with natural water content of
aggregate from coating tests. Total water content of
the mixture was 5.97%. Mixture properties are closely
related to density of the compacted specimens. Thus,
it was necessary to optimize the water content at
compaction to maximize the desired mixture
properties. Optimum water content (as percent of dry
aggregate mass) at compaction was found 3% (that is
water content resulting in the highest density).
Resilient modulus test
Specimens of cold mix asphalt were prepared for
different additions of Portland cement from 0% to 6%
(as percent of dry aggregate mass) instead of mineral
filler using Marshall hammer compaction with 50
blows to each end of the specimen. The specimens
were prepared for three levels of residual asphalt
content of 4.2%, 5.2% and 6.2% (as percent of dry
aggregate mass). Besides, conventional hot mixtures,
with aggregate type and grading, were prepared
without cement as the reference samples. Bitumen
content equivalent to the cold-mix with 5.2% residual
content was used. Both the emulsion and hot mixtures
were prepared in sufficient quantity to allow three
1100 g specimens to be produced from each mixture.
The cold mixtures were prepared and compacted at
room temperature, whereas the hot mix specimens
were produced at a temperature of 140oC. Specimens
were demounted after about 20 h and then cured in an
environmental conditional room.
The diametral resilient modulus test method
developed by Schmidt13 and detailed in the ASTM
test method for indirect tension test for resilient
modulus of bituminous mixtures (D-4123) was used
in this study. Specimens of cold mix were first tested
after 3 days and periodically, as the specimens cured,
the tests carried out throughout 365 days at various
periods. The specimens were tested at 25oC. Pulse
period was 1000 ms and rise time was 40 ms.
Static and repeated load asphalt creep tests
Uniaxial compression loading was used to
determine the effect of cement on creep and
permanent deformation of cold-mix asphalt. Creep
and permanent deformation tests were conducted in
accordance with producers outlined in NCHRP
Report 33814. Specimens of the same design as those
used in the resilient modulus tests were subjected to
static load asphalt creep test for three levels of
residual asphalt content; 4.2%, 5.2% and 6.2%. All
tests were performed at 25oC after 28 days.
Moisture damage test
The effect of cement on the resistance to water
damage of mixtures has been reported by a number of
authors including Ishai and Nesichi16 and Lottman17.
Moisture damage evaluation can be determined using
various methods, the most common of which are
summarized in a recent publication by the National
Research Council in the United States of America18.
This method uses either the ratio of the resilient
modulus or the indirect tensile strength of wet
 ORUC et al.: MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF COLD-MIX ASPHALT 515

(moisture conditioned) and of dry (unconditioned)

samples as indicators of moisture susceptibility. In
this study, the effect of water damage on durability of
cold mix and hot mix was evaluated by measuring the
resilient modulus of mixtures before and after
soaking. Specimens of the cold mixtures prepared at
5.2% of residual asphalt content were tested at 25oC
after 3 days curing time. Then, the specimens were
soaked 1 day under water at 50oC. The ratio of
resilient modulus (Mr) values for conditioned and
unconditioned specimens was determined.
Mathematical Model for Resilient Modulus
The object of model fitting is to obtain the simplest
model that adequately fits the data, so that it can be Fig. 1 — Effect of cement on resilient modulus at 4.2% of
useful for prediction purposes. Relationships between residual asphalt content
engineering variables are not always linear, or may
not always be adequately described by linear models.
Experimental data for such variables may show a non-
linear trend between the observed values of the
variables. Although a linear relation may be used to
describe the general trend between each pair of
variables, predictions based on such linear relation-
ships may overestimate (in certain ranges of the
variables) or underestimate (in other ranges of the
variables) the expected result. In such cases, a linear
relationship between the variables would be more
appropriate. The determination of such non-linear
relationships on the basis of observational data
involves non-linear regression analysis.
Non-linear regression is usually based on an
assumed non-linear (mean value) function with cer- Fig. 2 — Effect of cement on resilient modulus at 5.2% of
residual asphalt content
tain undetermined coefficients that would be evalua-
ted from the experimental data. The simplest type of
non-linear function for the regression of Y an X is
E(Y|x) = α + βg(x) ...(1)
where g(x) is a predetermined non-linear function of
x. Non-linear regression analysis is usually based on
the assumption of a constant variance Var. (Y|x), or a
variance that is a function of g(x)19.
By defining a new variable x' = g(x), Eq. (1)
becomes
E(Y|x') = α + βg(x') …(2)
Model was established according to the dependent
variable, which is the resilient modulus because it was
measured during the indirect tensile test. The model
established for resilient modulus is as follow:
Mr = α+(β1* X1+β2*X2)*LOG(X3)+β3*X1+β4*X2 Fig. 3 — Effect of cement on resilient modulus at 6.2% of
…(3) residual asphalt content
516 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., DECEMBER 2006
Results and Discussion
The results of the resilient modulus tests are shown
in Figs 1-3 for each of residual asphalt content.
Besides, specimens of cold-mix were used for water-
loss measurements, which were simply taken as the
loss in mass. The relative humidity measured was
73% during the testing period. The results of the tests
are shown in Figs 4-6.
Results of the resilient modulus tests shown in
Figs 1-3 indicate that resilient modulus of the cold
mixtures increased steadily over several weeks and
months time, on the contrary, the hot mix showed no
significant change. The rate of resilient modulus of
the cold mixtures increased as the cement content
increases. On the contrary, the resilient modulus of
the cold mixtures decreased as the residual asphalt
content increases.
Fig. 4 — Water loss from specimens with various levels of
cement at 4.2% of residual asphalt
Fig. 5 — Water loss from specimens with various levels of
cement at 5.2% of residual asphalt
From the water loss results in Figs 4-6, the
following points are considered important: (i) The
majority of the water loss occurred in the initial weeks
after specimen production; (ii) Generally, it can be
said that the addition of cement slowed down and
decreased the rate of water loss, but the results did not
truly follow a trend; (iii) Evaporate of the water
continued over several weeks, but evaporate stopped
after about 8-10 weeks, and a remainder of water may
never disappear completely; and (iv) Increase of
residual asphalt content slowed down and decreased
the rate of water loss.
Results of the uniaxial creep tests shown in
Figs 7-9 indicate that the sudden increment in
deformation occurred by load applied. Then, the
increment in deformation slowed down. The rate of
deformation of the cold mixtures decreased with
Fig. 6 — Water loss from specimens with various levels of
cement at 6.2% of residual asphalt
Fig. 7 — Effect of cement on creep strain at 4.2% of residual
asphalt content
 ORUC et al.: MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF COLD-MIX ASPHALT
Fig. 8 — Effect of cement on creep strain at 5.2% of residual
asphalt content
Fig. 9 — Effect of cement on creep strain at 6.2% of residual
asphalt content
cement content. On the contrary, the rate of
deformation of the cold mixtures increased with
residual asphalt content. Results given in Fig. 8
indicate that deformation of the hot mix was higher
than the cold mixtures added even 2% of cement. As
expected, the creep modulus decreased with increased
loading time. The results of static creep tests showed
the enhancement of mixture creep resistance due to
the addition of the cement.
Specimens of the cold mixtures prepared at 5.2%
of residual asphalt content were subjected to repeated
load asphalt creep tests to determine permanent
deformation characteristics of the cold mixtures15.
The specimens were tested at 25oC after 28 days
curing time. The tests were performed at a load
frequency of 1 Hz with 0.5 second loading and 0.5
unloading for 45000 cycles. Fig. 10 shows the
averaged results obtained from the sets of three
repeated load asphalt creep tests on specimens with
different content of cement.
517
Fig. 10 — Permanent strains at 25oC for various cement contents
compared with hot mix
Fig. 11 — Effect of cement level on the resistance to water
damage
From the permanent deformation results in Fig. 10,
the following fact can be indicated: (i) Without
cement, clod-mix specimens failed after less than
30,000 cycles, which indicates that the unmodified
cold-mix has rather poor resistance to permanent
deformation; (ii) The resistance to permanent
deformation of cold-mix was increased by the
addition of cement; (iii) The cold-mix specimens with
cement offered better resistance to permanent
deformation than hot mix (without cement);
(iv) These results suggest that cement acts as a
secondary binder in cold-mix.
Results of the moisture damage tests are shown in
Fig. 11. From these results the following points can be
stated: (i) Without cement, cold-mix specimens failed
after sixth hour of conditioned; (ii) The resistance to
water damage of cold-mix was increased by the
addition of cement; (iii) The ratio is 0.91 for hot
mixture. The ratio obtained for cold mixture with 3%
cement is 0.85 even only 3 days of curing; and
518 INDIAN J. ENG. MATER. SCI., DECEMBER 2006

(iv) The results indicate that cement is an effective

adhesive for cold mixtures.
Correlation matrix and regression statistics of the
model established is shown in Table 4 and 5.
Frequency distribution of residuals, normal
probability plot of residuals and observed versus
predicted values of model established are shown in
Figs 12-14 respectively.
While developing the mathematical model, the
correlation matrix (Table 4) must first be calculated
between the dependent and the probable independent Fig. 12 — Frequency distribution of residuals of model
established
variables. Since the correlations among residual
asphalt content, cement level and curing time are
weak, it is reasonable to choose all the three as
independent variables and the resilient modulus as the
dependent variable. Cement content is the most
effective parameter on the resilient modulus. Table 5
shows the regression coefficients. The values are all
in the good range. In Table 5, since all p-values are
smaller than 0.05, the calculated coefficients are all
reasonable.
In order to determine whether or not any systematic
errors are associated with the experiments, the Fig. 13 — Normal probability plot of residuals of model
frequency distribution of the residuals is plotted and established
compared with normal distribution (Fig. 12). Since
frequency distribution of the residuals conforms to
normal distribution, no systematic error could be
Table 4 — Correlation matrix of the proposed model
Variables Resilient Asphalt Cement Curing
modulus content content time
Resilient modulus 1.00
Asphalt content -0.42 1.00
Cement content 0.83 0.00 1.00
Curing time 0.20 0.00 0.00 1.00 Fig. 14 — Observed and predicted values of model established

Table 5 — Regression statistics

N=168 Coefficients Standard error t-statistic Prob.
Constant (α) 15509.05 796.9679 19.46007 0.0000
β1 84.43554 27.74877 3.042857 0.0027
β2 150.1182 40.51018 3.705689 0.0003
β3 -3181.904 174.4001 -18.24485 0.0000
β4 1829.078 148.6583 12.30390 0.0000
R-squared 0.925187
Adjusted R-squared 0.923351
Standard error 1560.662
F-statistic 503.9421
Prob. (F-significance) 0.000000
 ORUC et al.: MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF COLD-MIX ASPHALT
associated. Fig. 13 shows the same from another
point. The good correlation is displayed between
expected normal value and residual and good
correlation is obtained between observed and
predicted values (Fig. 14).
Conclusions
This experimental study has focused on the effect
of cement in enhancing the mechanical properties of
dense graded cold-mix asphalt for structural layers in
highway pavement roads. A satisfactory solution has
been introduced to the most important problems of
cold-mix asphalt. Based on the results of this study
the following conclusions can be made:
(i) Critical early life properties of cold-mix
asphalt based on the resilient modulus,
resistance to water damage, creep and
permanent deformation are all improved by
cement addition. Cement is an effective
adhesive and acts as a secondary binder in
cold-mix asphalt.
(ii) Water in dense graded emulsion mixtures is a
vital ingredient of the process but becomes a
problem since inhibiting compaction and
delaying strength gain. Most of the water loss
is achieved in the first weeks but some
remains in the longer term.
(iii) The resilient modulus and resistance to creep
and permanent deformations of the cold
mixtures decreases with increasing residual
asphalt content.
(iv) Mathematical model describing the
relationship between the resilient modulus
and residual asphalt content, cement addition
and curing time has been established. It was
shown that the resilient modulus can be
predicted using such mathematical model.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Karadeniz
Technical University Research Fund for supporting
the Project No: 20.112.001.7.
Nomenclature
Mr = resilient modulus (MPa)
X1 = residual asphalt content (%)
View publication stats
519
X2 = cement content (%)
X3 = curing time (day)
α, = constant
β1, β2, β3, β4 = coefficients
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