International Journal of Pavement Engineering

ISSN: 1029-8436 (Print) 1477-268X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gpav20

Performance evaluation of semi-flexible

permeable pavements under cyclic loads

Mahdi M. Disfani, Alireza Mohammadinia, Guillermo A. Narsilio & Lu Aye

To cite this article: Mahdi M. Disfani, Alireza Mohammadinia, Guillermo A. Narsilio & Lu Aye
(2018): Performance evaluation of semi-flexible permeable pavements under cyclic loads,
International Journal of Pavement Engineering, DOI: 10.1080/10298436.2018.1475666

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2018.1475666

Published online: 23 May 2018.

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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING
https://doi.org/10.1080/10298436.2018.1475666

Performance evaluation of semi-flexible permeable pavements under cyclic loads

Mahdi M. Disfani, Alireza Mohammadinia, Guillermo A. Narsilio and Lu Aye
Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Traditional permeable pavements are constructed with rigid aggregates and have low load-bearing Received 14 December 2017
capacity. The crack development due to loads and unpredicted ground movements reduces their Accepted 4 May 2018
service life. The widespread cracks on the surface of conventional asphalt accelerate the pavement
KEYWORDS
structure deterioration and reduce the overall service life. In this research, the end-of-life tyre products Flexible permeable
shredded to tyre-derived aggregates (TDAs) were utilised along with crushed rock (CR) in different pavement; storm water
fractions of a porous structure to enhance the flexibility of permeable pavement whilst maintaining the management; tyre crumb;
minimum load-bearing capacity for use in footpath and low-volume roads. The transitional behaviour recoverable deformation
from a semi-rigid structure owing to the rigidity of CR aggregates to a more flexible structure for
mixtures at higher TDA content was investigated. The impact of rigid-rigid and flexible-rigid inter-
particular contacts at low and high stress levels is investigated. The plastic and recoverable
deformations of the flexible-rigid blends under monotonic and repeated loadings are compared. Also,
the impact of polyurethane binder content on improving the mixtures flexural strength is investigated.
The lightly bonded flexible-rigid mixtures are a viable replacements for traditional porous pavements
to improve the load-bearing mechanism and increase the flexibility of pavement.

Introduction
Permeable paving systems have been promoted to minimise the
surface water run-off in urban developments. The high porosity
required for the permeable layers are met by using materials
with uniform gradation resulting in an open gradation with
minimal contact points. The low coordination number, which
is defined as the average number of contacts per particle, should
plausibly provide an indication of overall fabric stability (Lan-
groudi et al. 2015). This low coordination number creates a
rigid and brittle system with low load-bearing capacity; vulner-
able to deformations and loadings. Porous surfaces have been
widely used in urban areas for storm water management and
to minimise the surface run-off and redirect the influx of
flash flooding into storm water collection systems and aquifers
(Woods-Ballard et al. 2007, Nnadi et al. 2014). These systems
are also capable of storing the backflow of water due to low
water absorption of the subgrade layer and the drainage system
(Zhang et al. 2017). Impermeable surfaces occupy 25% of Aus-
tralian urban environments, presenting a large proportion of
hard surfaces (Shackel et al. 2008) resulting in increased run-
off and pollution issues. Water sensitive urban design is an
approach which has been used extensively in Australia to
ensure that storm water is managed in a more sustainable man-
ner. Permeable surfaces present a crucial element of this design
process and with the lack of a clear standard to be adopted for
design and construction of the permeable surfaces, a deeper
understanding of the load-bearing mechanism of the high-por-
osity structure is essential (Weiss et al. 2017).
Conventional permeable pavements composed of various
materials (pavers, concrete and asphalt) dominate the current
industry. Nevertheless, the development of new and more
sustainable technologies requires attention to the scarcity of
virgin materials and should consider utilisation of recycled
materials. There has been intensive research dedicated to
assessment of hazards of disposing tyres to landfills (Collins
et al. 1995, Ma and Hipel 2016). Use of disposed scrap tyres
generated from end-of-life tyres is constantly increasing in
Australia. Mountjoy et al. (2015) reported that 51 million
equivalent passenger units of Australian tyres are entering
the waste stream annually. Approximately only 5% of these
tyres are recovered through recycling activities. Recycled
tyre products have been incorporated successfully in pave-
ment construction, including the use of recycled waste rubber
in products such as porous asphalt using fine grains of scrap
tyres (less than and equal to 2 mm mean particle diameter) in
hot mix asphalts (Cetin 2013). However, the rate of hydraulic
conductivity of the porous hot mix asphalts is considered
insufficient to effectively manage storm water. Hence, the
new generation of permeable pavement mixtures is using
grout or chemical synthetic as binders for binding uniformly
graded aggregates, which in essence is similar to asphalt and
concrete pavements with higher porosity (Eban et al. 2013).
Additionally, the mechanical properties of granular tyre
scraps have been investigated for utilisation in industrial
applications such as concrete manufacturing, pavement con-
structions, earth fills and highway embankments (Garga and
O’shaughnessy 2000, Aisien et al. 2006). However, the
inferior load-bearing capacity and high deformation poten-
tial of tyre-derived aggregates (TDAs) limit the use of these
end-of-life tyre aggregates to marginal applications with
low fractions.

CONTACT Mahdi M. Disfani mahdi.miri@unimelb.edu.au Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 M. M. DISFANI ET AL.

The high porosity required for permeable surfacing systems due to expected flexibility from the designed permeable sur-
simultaneously functions as a filter for the downstream water facing layer, the flexural resilient modulus and fatigue life of
collection mechanism. However, the high porosity of the mix- the blends were determined through four-point beam testing
tures comes with the penalty of lower load bearing of the per- of mixtures, and the durability of each mix under bending
meable mixtures compared to conventional pavement surfaces. moments was evaluated.
Although the high porosity allows for the transformation of
water and nutrients to the surrounding vegetation and mini-
Materials and methods
mises the growth of roots, natural ground movements and
shrinkages or swelling of subgrades such as expansive soils Previous research by the authors showed that the uniformly
can compromise the functionality of the pavement surfacing. graded TDA and CR can provide high porosity and can be uti-
It is known that the load-bearing capacity of TDA aggregates lised to deliver the required hydraulic conductivity for the per-
is relatively low, but their high elastic flexibility can be utilised to meable pavement system (Mohammadinia et al. 2018). The
accommodate minor settlements and ground movements to transitional mixtures were previously determined by the
avoid creation of cracks in the pavement surface. The natural authors to utilise the flexibility of the soft aggregates while
ground movements, particularly in footpaths located in the still maintain the structural integrity of the mixture depending
vicinity of trees or in the areas that the pavement sublayers on the targeted application. The CR aggregates and TDA were
have shrinking and swelling potential can lead to irrecoverable procured from local suppliers in Victoria, Australia. CR aggre-
damage to the pavement surfacing, which in turn accelerate gates are round and bulky (mean particle diameter D50 = 5 mm,
the deterioration of the pavement structure. In addition to sus- specific gravity Gs = 2.81) with marginal fraction of platy aggre-
ceptibility of traditional impermeable sealing layer of pavements gates in the mix while irregular shaped TDA (mean particle
to ground movement and crack development, conventional diameter D50 = 6.8 mm, specific gravity Gs = 1.06) is domi-
rigid permeable structures are high-porosity matrix of uni- nantly angular and bulky. The specification of CR and TDA
formly graded rigid aggregates with a low coordination number as well as the flexible-rigid blends is presented in Table 1.
and a brittle behaviour that limits their widespread application The porosity of the rigid-flexible mixtures is dependent on
(Figure 1). Although higher particle crushing strength is prefer- the size ratio of the aggregates, relative density of the com-
able to withstand higher loads at the low coordination number, it pacted samples as well as the volumetric fraction of TDA aggre-
is not as important as the particle breakage pattern and gates (VTDA). Kim and Santamarina (2008) presented a similar
rearrangement of the particles to form new contact points scenario for a smaller size ratio (i.e. larger tyre aggregates com-
after breakage (Cui and Bhattacharya 2017). pared to flexible aggregates) assuming that the sand particles
This study investigates utilisation of TDA along with are small enough to fill the voids between the larger tyre aggre-
crushed rock (CR) in construction of flexible permeable sur- gates. This means the porosity was governed by tyre aggregates
faces. This solution aims to utilise the tyre aggregates’ flexibility and sand aggregates fill in the void space, reducing the porosity,
to partially accommodate small settlements and loads without with the lowest porosity achieved at tyre content of 0.6–0.7.
losing the pavement structural integrity and drainage capacity. However, the similar mean diameter between the TDA and
The uniaxial strength of different mixes and the range of strains CR aggregates in this research prevents using the same prin-
to failure was measured through unconfined compressive ciple for calculation of porosity. The minimum and maximum
strength (UCS) test, and the residual plastic deformations index densities of CR and TDA and the selected blends were
and unloading/reloading behaviour of the mixes are investi- measured according to ASTM D4253 (2016) and ASTM
gated. In addition to monotonic loading, the repeated load D4254 (2016). CR and TDA blends with VTDA of 0.0–1.0
triaxial (RLT) test was employed to investigate the durability were placed and lightly compacted to a relative density of
of the bonded mixtures and trend of plastic deformation 80% inside a mould and was compressed with a vertical
accumulation under a range of axial cyclic repeated loads and pressure of 10 kPa and 1 MPa to measure the porosity
a variety of confinement. The resilient modulus response of
the blend was determined, and the sensitivity of the results
was correlated to the volume fraction of TDA (VTDA). Also,
Table 1. Summary of rigid and flexible aggregate specifications.
Crushed Tyre-derived 30% 40% 50%
rock aggregates TDA: TDA: TDA:
Material properties (CR) (TDAs) 70% CR 60% CR 50% CR
Cu 2.12 1.51 2.12 2.15 2.11
Cc 1.15 0.96 1.18 1.27 1.26
USCS GPa GP GP GP GP
Mean aggregates 5 6.8 5.20 5.30 5.40
diameter, D50, mm
Specific gravity (Gs) 2.81 1.06 – – –
Water absorption (%) 2.80 1.11 – – –
Sphericity 0.76b 0.82b – – –
Roundness 0.58b 0.38b – – –
γd Max (kg/m3) 1589.3 595.9 1459.2 1400.6 1330.0
γd Min (kg/m3) 1240.9 369.4 1126.8 1075.3 1013.5
Note: USCS: unified soil classification system.
a
Figure 1. (a) Development of cracks induced by tree roots in a conventional pav- Poorly graded.
ing system, (b) crack development in a rigid permeable pavement system.
b
Calculated based on suggestion of Cho et al. (2004).
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 3

(Figure 2(a)). The uniform gradation and light compaction are
essential to maintain the high porosity, which provides the per-
meability as the main specification of these pavement materials.
Similar to the results reported by Kim and Santamarina (2008),
the porosity plunges at VTDA of 0.7. Although the CR aggre-
gates are slightly smaller in size, they cannot fit in the voids
between the TDA. At low TDA content due to limited settle-
ments of the rigid mix and relatively constant volume of the
specimen, increasing the TDA content reduces the overall
mass of the mixture, which results in a small rise in porosity.
At the TDA content close to 0.4–0.6, the rate of settlement
increases and despite the drop in overall mass of the sample
the overall porosity decreases as well. Beyond VTDA of 0.7,
the 10% volumetric increment results in a much larger gravi-
metric change in the blend (Table 2), which results in a larger
drop in the total mass density of the sample and hence the
increase in porosity (Figure 2(b)). The densities of the blends
were measured under a vertical load of 5 and 1 MPa and
were compared to the density at 10 kPa. The densities are closer
at low TDA content and further apart as the VTDA increases
(Figure 2(c)).
In this research, the selected transitional mixtures, namely
30% TDA: 70% CR, 40% TDA: 60% CR and 50% TDA: 50%
CR, were mixed with a 10% and 15% polyurethane binder to
investigate their performance in pavement applications. It
should be noted that the percentage presented is in volume
fractions between the flexible and rigid aggregates, and the
10% and 15% binder fraction was later added to the defined
mixtures. The details of the gravimetric and volumetric fraction
of the mixtures are presented in Table 2.

Figure 2. Gravimetric and volumetric properties of TDA–CR mixtures (DTDA/DCR = 10): (a) Porosity; (b) Mass density; (c) Mass density ratios at σ′ v = 5.0 MPa, σ′ v = 1.0 MPa
and σ′ v = 10 kPa. Circles and crosses denote measured data; lines are model predictions.
4 M. M. DISFANI ET AL.
Table 2. The volumetric and gravimetric specifications of the bond TDA–CR blends.
Volumetric fraction of
Specimen designationa TDA (%) fraction of TDA (%)
30% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 30
40% TDA: 60% CR: 10% Binder 40
50% TDA: 50% CR: 10% Binder 50
30% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 30
40% TDA: 60% CR: 15% Binder 40
50% TDA: 50% CR: 15% Binder 50
a
The binder content is an additional volumetric percentage to the aggregates.
The impact of the polyurethane binder on bonding TDA–
CR blends and the performance of the bonded mixtures
under simulated traffic loads were investigated by performing
a series of geotechnical and pavement tests such as hydraulic
conductivity, UCS, permanent deformation, resilient modulus,
flexural beam test and flexural fatigue beam test on a four-point
beam. The high porosity of flexible-rigid mixtures causes diffi-
culties in measurement of hydraulic conductivity. The limit-
ations related to influx and outflux discharge rate of valves in
the cell compared to permeability of the mixtures led to adopt-
ing a modified version of testing using the concept of determi-
nation of hydraulic conductivity of remoulded specimen with
falling head method (Australia 2001). In this method, time
was measured for a column of water to drop to the surface
level of specimen in a closed mould. UCS tests were conducted
according to ASTM D2166 (2016). To prepare the samples, dry
TDA and CR were measured for an equivalent of 80% relative
density for a split cylindrical mould with diameter of 100 ±
1 mm and height of 200 ± 1 mm. Dry aggregates were mixed
with the polyurethane binder and were compacted in three
layers to fit in the cylindrical mould to ensure similarity
between the void ratios of the bond sample with dry mix at
80% relative density. Top of the sample was covered with a
light dead weight to ensure a levelled surface at top of the
sample after demoulding. The samples were demoulded after
24 h of curing in room temperature and room moisture before
being tested.
RLT test was undertaken on the bonded TDA–CR samples
based on the recommendations of Austroads (Yeo and Midgley
2008) to determine the ultimate permanent deformation and
resilient modulus of the specimens under repeated loadings.
The first stage of the RLT test involves measurement of perma-
nent and recoverable strains under mild confining stress and a
variety of axial stresses to characterise the long-term behaviour
of materials under axial repeated loading and quantify the final
residual strain in the specimen. The resilient modulus test is
undertaken on the same specimen provided that the permanent
strain at the end of the first stage of testing does not exceed the
limits (commonly 5%). In this study, bond TDA–CR specimens
experienced deviator stresses of 250, 350 and 450 kPa while a
confinement of 50 kPa was applied to the specimen. Each
deviatoric stress was repeated for 10,000 cycles before the test
progressed to the next stage. The behaviour of the materials
during the 10,000 cycles can be categorised as ‘stable’ if the per-
manent deformation converges to a constant value, ‘unstable’ if
the permanent strain demonstrates a mild increasing trend over
the loading stage and finally ‘failed’ in the excessive defor-
mation accumulated over the loading stage.
Gravimetric Volumetric fraction of Gravimetric fraction of
polyurethane binder (%) polyurethane binder (%) Porosity, n
13.1 10 8.5 0.488
19.0 10 8.5 0.485
26.1 10 8.5 0.463
13.1 15 11.8 0.451
19.0 15 11.8 0.446
26.1 15 11.8 0.430
The resilient modulus test procedure is followed on the same
specimen used for determination of permanent deformation
and demonstrates the vertical resilient strain response over 65
varieties of static confinement and dynamic axial stresses
(Yeo and Midgley 2008). The resilient modulus at each of the
stress combinations is averaged between the five last cycles of
a 200-load repetition stage (Yeo and Midgley 2008).
To investigate the flexural strength of the bonded samples,
four-point beam test was employed (including determination
of modulus of rupture (flexural strength), determination of
flexural modulus at 40% of peak load and fatigue life of the
bond materials at 70% of peak load. To determine the ultimate
peak load (modulus of rupture) for each specimen, a 100 ±
1 mm × 100 ± 1 mm × 400 ± 2 mm beam is loaded statically
according to Standards Australia (2014). A second identical
beam was then used to determine the flexural strength in
accordance with Austrods recommendation at 40% of peak
load (Yeo and Midgley 2008) by applying 100 haversine-shaped
pulse cycles with a frequency of 1 Hz. Each loading cycle has a
loading period of 250 and 750 ms of rest at a minimum contact
stress. The resilient modulus is measured at 40% of peak load to
avoid substantial damage to the beam yet produces enough
response in the middle point of the beam to measure the reco-
verable deformation and hence the flexural resilient modulus.
After visual inspection of the same beam used for the flex-
ural beam measurement, and ensuring that there is no signifi-
cant damage to the beam, fatigue life testing was performed on
the same beam. The haversine-shaped load cycles for fatigue
life test are applied with a frequency of 2 Hz at a maximum
value of the 70% of peak load. The rest period for this stage
is reduced to 250 ms. The load is high enough to start incre-
mental deterioration at the bottom of the beam. The recover-
able deformation at the top middle point of the beam is used
for determination of modulus. By accumulation of permanent
stains, the modulus continuously reduces to the cycle of loading
in which the modulus reduces to half of the initial modulus
(defined as fatigue life) since it is close to ultimate sample fail-
ure point.
Experimental results
Hydraulic conductivity
In general, the hydraulic conductivity is governed by the aggre-
gates with a smaller mean diameter. The smaller mean diameter
of rock aggregates (5 mm) compared to TDA (6.8 mm) is
impacting the infiltration rate through the mixture matrix
(Figure 3). The hydraulic conductivity reduces as the fraction

Figure 3. Hydraulic conductivity of TDA–CR blends.
of rock aggregates increases. Additionally, adding the binders
reduces the porosity of the flexible-rigid mixture, leading to
reduction of permeability. The values of hydraulic conductivity
measured through the laboratory are compared to recommen-
dation of ASCE (2013) for previous concrete and porous
asphalt.
Unconfined compressive strength
The transitional blends are expected to perform under different
conditions such that the flexibility is utilised under low-stress
levels and rigidity prevails at higher stress levels. Figure 4
shows the stress–strain curves for TDA–CR blends with 10%
and 15% of added polyurethane binder. Although the ultimate
strength increased slightly with the extra 5% of binder, the
strain level of linear elastic part of the stress–strain curve
decreased. The blend with 30% TDA content has the highest
strength while blends with 40% and 50% TDA content show
similar lower strength. Since there is no single distinct point
of peak in the stress–strain curve of flexible blends, the failure
point for large strain curve was determined using the procedure
suggested by Fuller and Hoy (1970) and Butler and Hoy (1976)
for determination of large strain load-deformation curves. The
failure strain of the blends with 30% TDA is lowest of all speci-
mens while for 50% TDA the failure strain is the highest among
all. The lateral strain of the UCS specimens was measured with
a photogrammetry method similar to the method suggested by
Mehdizadeh et al. (2015). The high porosity and
Figure 4. Stress–strain curve of TDA–CR blends mixed with (a) 10% and (b) 15% binder.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 5
compressibility of the mixtures, particularly mixtures with
higher TDA content, reduces the lateral strains at lower strains.
The Poisson’s ratio of the materials that were measured at 50%
of failure load are between 0.3 and 0.35.
The unloading/reloading curve for the blends with 50% and
30% TDA content and 10% binder is also presented in Figure 4.
As expected, the slope of the unloading/reloading curves is
milder compared to the initial slope of elastic deformation
curve. Although the vertical strain at the peak load for the
samples with 50% TDA and 30% TDA reached to 11% and
5% respectively, the final residual permanent axial strain after
unloading both samples was very low and close to 0.5%. The
standard deviation between the three UCS specimens is pre-
sented in Figure 5.
Figure 5 shows the Secant Young modulus at 50% of ulti-
mate strength for the bond TDA–CR samples. It can be noticed
that blends with 30% TDA content show the highest stiffness,
which is supported by the well-connected intergranular CR
aggregates contacts. The stiffness reduces significantly as the
TDA content increases and although the extra binder moder-
ates the reduction of stiffness, the ultimate strength of the
blend does not improve greatly.
Permanent deformation and resilient modulus
The maximum permanent strain at the end of each stage of
loading and also the range of resilient modulus under perma-
nent deformation loadings stages are presented in Table 3.
The permanent deformation results of transitional blends
bond with 10% and 15% binder are presented in Figure 6. It
is apparent that all the blends are showing a stable behaviour
and qualify for resilient modulus stage of testing. The blends
with 15% binder are showing less permanent deformation as
expected due to higher inter-particular contacts between the
aggregates. It should also be noted that the samples with a
higher amount of tyre fraction in the blends experienced
slightly higher permanent deformation. The transitional blends
with 15% binder found to be stable, as the blends evidently
exhibit constant permanent strain rate and resilient modulus.
However, the blend (50% TDA + 50% CR + 10% binder)
shows an increasing trend in the final stage of loading.
Although the increasing trend of the permanent strain shows
6 M. M. DISFANI ET AL.

two identical beams. The crack initiation is depicted in Figure 9

Figure 5. Ultimate unconfined strength and Young’s modulus of bonded TDA–CR
blends.
the instability in the matrix of this particular mixture, it has not
reached to failure (over 5% permanent strain) and still qualifies
for resilient modulus testing. It should also be noted that the
overall axial permanent strain under the repeated loads at
lower stress levels is higher than the residual permanent strain
of monotonic UCS loading at high-stress levels after unloading.
This is mainly due to deterioration of adhesive contact between
the polyurethane binder and aggregates surface under repeated
loadings. This effect is more significant at blends with higher
TDA content.
The results of resilient modulus tests are presented in
Figure 7. The slight improvement of the resilient modulus
due to extra 5% of binder can also be observed here. However,
to investigate the impact of axial stress on the resilient modulus,
resilient modulus of the blends is plotted against axial stress
(deviator stress) in three categories of confining pressures of
20, 30 and 40 kPa. The blends with 40% and 50% TDA content
for both 10% and 15% binder content are insensitive to axial
stress, which shows that the recoverable deformation increases
almost linearly with an increase in axial stress, suggesting that
the blends are still within the elastic region. However, as the
TDA content reduces to 30%, the increasing trend of resilient
modulus with axial stress intensifies and subsequently perma-
nent deformations accumulate in the specimen (Figure 8).
Modulus of rupture and fatigue life of beam samples
A series of photos showing the process of modulus of rupture is
presented in Figure 9. The modulus of rupture has been
obtained by applying a monotonic load on the first of the
within the zone of pure moment. It should be noted that the
crack develops in fractions of the second and failure happens
quickly at low TDA content. The ductility of the sample
increases at higher TDA content and despite the fast nature
of failure in rupture test, the crack development can be detected
prior to failure. The results of the modulus of rupture tests are
presented in Table 4. Modulus of rupture is almost the same for
the samples with the same binder content, suggesting that it is
the binder that controls the rupture in an open-graded mixture
of tyre and CR. It should be noted though that the crack width
and height of propagation is significantly higher for samples
with higher TDA content. To increase the reliability of the
results, the number of beam test undertaken for each blend
should be increased. Approximately one-third of the initial
flexural modulus gives a rough initial estimation for the mod-
ulus to be used in field design (Choummanivong et al. 2006).
It is important to note that while the modulus of rupture
obtained from monotonic loading of bonded TDA–CR blends
was mainly dependent on the binder content, the flexural resi-
lient modulus was partially dependent on the CR content in
addition to binder content. Similar to modulus of rupture,
the initial flexural resilient modulus of the beams with 15% bin-
der content was significantly higher than that of beams with
10% binder content. However, samples with higher TDA con-
tent have a lower initial flexural strength, which is due to larger
vertical deformation measured at the top of pure moment zone
in the beam. Despite the lower flexural stiffness, the fatigue lives
of these specimens are much longer compared to the similar
sample with lower TDA content (Figure 10), suggesting a
longer service life under field cyclic loads. Additionally, the
rate of reduction in flexural strength in samples with higher
TDA content is noticeably lower compared to the similar
sample with lower TDA content, resulting in a higher ductility
of the beam (Table 5).
The wide range of fatigue life is due to the fact that flexural
fatigue test is highly sensitive to the applied load. Another influ-
ential factor is that both beams of each slab are assumed to be
identical in terms of compaction and gradation. The failure pat-
tern of the flexural beam tests was found to be consistent with
the past works with cement-stabilised quarry CR products
(Mandal 2012, Arulrajah et al. 2015). The models developed
by South African National Road Agency (1990) and Kersten
(1961) and Mandal (2012) estimate the modulus of rupture
of the rigid cementitious bonded aggregates to be a third of
the unconfined strength for high-quality aggregates and even
less for recycled and lower quality aggregates (Figure 11). The

Table 3. Results of permanent strain testing for the transitional blends.

Permanent strain at the end of Range of resilient modulus during
each stage permanent deformation test
(×103 microstrain) (MPa) Material behaviour mode
Specimen identification Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3
30% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 9.9 10.8 11.9 44–100 108–111 112–119 Stable Stable Stable
40% TDA: 60% CR: 10% Binder 10.8 13.6 17.3 54–68 63–70 50–65 Stable Stable Stable
50% TDA: 50% CR: 10% Binder 13.6 16.8 22.7 32–49 44–51 36–46 Stable Stable Unstable
30% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 6.0 7.5 8.6 86–114 116–121 121–124 Stable Stable Stable
40% TDA: 60% CR: 15% Binder 5.8 8.0 10.4 66–89 82–90 73–84 Stable Stable Stable
50% TDA: 50% CR: 15% Binder 8.8 11.5 15.0 43–63 55–64 46–56 Stable Stable Stable
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 7

Figure 6. Permanent deformation of bonded TDA–CR blends.

bonded TDA–CR aggregates, on the contrary, show a high It should be noted that the current design procedures and
modulus of rupture, comparable with cement-stabilised aggre- recommendations (such as Scholz and Grabowiecki 2007,
gates, despite their lower unconfined strength. Shackel et al. 2008, ASCE 2013) are mainly relying on the

Figure 7. Resilient modulus of bonded TDA–CR blends.

8 M. M. DISFANI ET AL.
Figure 8. RLT testing results versus maximum axial stress for selected confining pressures for bonded TDA–CR blends.
base and sub-base strength for load bearing and ignore the
structural performance of the surface layer. However, the
experimental programme in this research shows that the flex-
ural and compressional resilient modulus of bonded TDA–
CR blends are close to the ranges suggested for a base layer
design. Hence, the composition of TDA–CR in conjunction
Figure 9. Four-point beam fatigue test stages for modulus of rupture.
with a proper base can extend the application of the permeable
surfaces from pedestrian walks to low-volume roads.
Conclusions and discussion
The susceptibility of traditional rigid matrix of permeable pave-
ment systems to crack propagation and their low coordination
number prohibits the widespread application of these materials
as an effective storm water management solution. Despite the
low load-bearing capacity that is expected from these materials,
unexpected natural ground movement due to swelling of sub-
grade layers or intrusion of tree roots into the pavement struc-
ture can compromise their functionality. Partial replacement of
the limited number of rigid-rigid contact points in these struc-
tures with flexible-rigid contacts can remove the susceptibility
of these materials to crack propagation under flexural loading
imposed at the top of the pavement layer. The flexibility of
the system can be designed to match the targeted purpose of
application for the pavement layer to either utilise the rigidity
of the CR aggregates for tolerating higher loads or make use
of the higher flexibility provided by the TDA. The blends
with VTDA of less than 30% show a relatively rigid behaviour,
where VTDA exceeding 50% decreases the load-bearing capa-
bility significantly.
The impact of the polyurethane binder in improving the
compressive strength is minimal in blends with lower TDA
content; however, at a higher TDA content, the polyurethane
binder improves the load-bearing capacity and stiffness of the
pavement. Yet the improvement in compressive strength of
the pavement was not noticeable compared to the impact it
had on flexural strength of the pavement. The impact of the
polyurethane binder in strengthening the mixture predomi-
nantly was observed under tension and bending loads.
Although the monotonic flexural strength of modulus of rup-
ture test is insensitive to VTDA, the flexural modulus under cyc-
lic loadings is impacted by the TDA content. It should be noted
that although the rigid-to-rigid contact compression impact of
the CR aggregates at the top layer of the pavement increases the
flexural stiffness, the overall flexural strength is provided by
the impact of tensile strength of binder at the bottom layer of
the pavement. In general, the positive effects of increasing the
 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PAVEMENT ENGINEERING 9

Table 4. Summary of results of modulus of rupture on bonded TDA–CR blends.

Width Height Peak load Modulus of Tensile straina Approximate crack propagation Average crack
Specimen (mm) (mm) (kN) rupture (MPa) (μstrain) heightb (mm) widthb (μm)
30% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 100.1 100.4 3.50 1.04 125 35–38 104
40% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 99.6 100.3 3.51 1.05 231 47–52 184
50% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 99.4 100.8 3.30 0.98 315 58–63 337
30% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 99.9 100.2 5.18 1.55 131 25–30 100
40% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 99.5 101.0 5.18 1.53 237 44–48 193
50% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 100.3 100.4 4.85 1.44 273 49–53 287
a
Tensile strain at 95% of peak load.
b
Measured from/at the bottom of the beam at 95% of peak load.

binder content from 10% to 15% were evaluated to be marginal.
Considering the risk of reducing the overall porosity of the mix-
ture at higher binder content, particularly at the bottom of the
permeable surface layer due to leachate of liquid polymer bin-
der at the time of construction, 10% binder content was deemed
to have higher relevance.
Despite the advantages of the permeable pavement surfaces,
there are some limitations associated with these types of pave-
ment. For instance, the load-bearing capability of these mix-
tures is not as high as that of the well-graded materials.
Additionally, the sensitivity of the binder composition to
water imposes weather-related limitation in terms of construc-
tion. Although the polyurethane-based binder is not sensitive
to temperature, the adhesion failure between thin layer of bin-
der that covers the aggregates is also a potential limitation
which is subject of further research.
Although the permanent strains are recovered almost fully
under monotonic loading due to high elasticity of the TDA
and binder materials, the loss of adhesion between the poly-
urethane binder and aggregates, particularly tyre aggregates,
leads to accumulation of permanent deformations. The ability
of the CR–TDA blends to absorb and recover from exposed
deformations can be particularly utilised in areas that experi-
ence fluctuation in ground level between dry and wet seasons.
Design and use of flexible permeable pavement should be tai-
lored to the respective application. It is worth noting that for
low-volume roads and lower stress levels (i.e. axial pressure
250 kPa), the permanent vertical strain of the polyurethane-
stabilised rigid blends can be stable at 0.5% under repeated
loads, as shown in Figure 6. In contrast for higher loads, the
vertical permanent deformation can reach up to 2%, suggesting
that the field application of the blends reported in this paper is
limited to low-volume roads. Use of TDA in composition of the
flexible permeable pavements reduces the cost of construction
compared to conventional permeable pavement made purely
from CR.

Figure 10. Four-point beam fatigue test results of bonded TDA–CR blends.
10 M. M. DISFANI ET AL.

Table 5. Summary of results of flexural modulus test of four-point beam on bonded TDA–CR blends.
Flexural modulus testa Flexural fatigue testb
Mean
flexural Tensile Initial Tensile Fatiguec
Width Height modulus strain modulus Tensile strainb Stress Strain life
Specimen (mm) (mm) (MPa) (μstrain) (MPa) stress (kPa) (μstrain) ratio ratio (cycles)
30% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 100.3 100.7 5555 75 673 834 115 0.80 0.92 220
40% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 100.1 101.0 3175 132 370 743 198 0.71 0.86 1130
50% TDA: 70% CR: 10% Binder 99.8 100.5 2309 170 257 668 243 0.68 0.77 2475
30% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 99.6 99.8 7872 79 953 1105 109 0.71 0.83 990
40% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 99.7 101.2 4512 136 526 1024 203 0.67 0.86 1930
50% TDA: 70% CR: 15% Binder 100.5 100.2 3913 147 435 894 189 0.62 0.69 14,950
a
Average value at 40% of peak load (rupture value) between cycles 51–100.
b
Average value of first 50 cycles at 70% of peak load (rupture value).
c
Cycles to half initial modulus (Yeo and Midgley 2008).

Figure 11. Relation between the unconfined strength and modulus of rupture for TDA–CR blends.

Acknowledgements ASCE, 2013. Permeable pavements, recommended design guidelines.

The authors would like to thank Merlin Site Services for their cash and in-
kind support and Tyrecycle for providing tyre aggregates.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Funding
This work was funded by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) as part of an
R&D programme to develop new end-uses for end-of-life tyres.
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