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Road Materials and Pavement Design

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Cementitious artificial aggregate

particles for high-skid resistance
pavements
a a a
François de Larrard , Rafael Martinez-Castillo , Thierry Sedran
b b
, Philippe Hauza & Jean-Eric Poirier
a
Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de
l'Aménagement et des Réseaux (IFSTTAR, formerly LCPC) , Centre
de Nantes, BP 4129, 44 341 , Bouguenais Cedex , France
b
Colas Campus Scientifique et Technique – Direction Scientifique
COLAS , 4 rue Jean Mermoz, 78114 , Les Hameaux , France
Published online: 11 Apr 2012.

To cite this article: François de Larrard , Rafael Martinez-Castillo , Thierry Sedran ,

Philippe Hauza & Jean-Eric Poirier (2012) Cementitious artificial aggregate particles for
high-skid resistance pavements, Road Materials and Pavement Design, 13:2, 376-384, DOI:
10.1080/14680629.2012.666642

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680629.2012.666642

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 Road Materials and Pavement Design
Vol. 13, No. 2, June 2012, 376–384

SCIENTIFIC NOTE

Cementitious artificial aggregate particles for high-skid

resistance pavements
François de Larrard*a , Rafael Martinez-Castilloa , Thierry Sedrana , Philippe Hauzab and
Jean-Eric Poirierb
a Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l’Aménagement et des Réseaux
(IFSTTAR, formerly LCPC), Centre de Nantes, BP 4129, 44 341 Bouguenais Cedex, France;
b Colas Campus Scientifique et Technique – Direction Scientifique COLAS, 4 rue Jean Mermoz,
78114 Les Hameaux, France
Downloaded by [UQ Library] at 03:22 01 November 2014

For some critical road sections, a high skid resistance of wearing course is required to minimise
the risk of traffic accidents. Nowadays this skid resistance is mainly brought by the use of
special aggregates as calcined bauxite, a scarce and expensive material. The paper presents a
patented technology, where a special high-performance mortar is produced and crushed at early
age. These cementitious artificial aggregates (CAA) can display aggregate properties close to
those of calcined bauxite. Various models are presented for the prediction of the aggregate
resistance to wear, fragmentation, and polishing, making possible the optimisation of CAA for
specific applications.
Keywords: artificial aggregate; high-performance concrete; Los Angeles; mathematical
models; mechanical properties; Micro-Deval; optimisation; polishing stone value

1. Introduction
Skid resistance is one of the main properties of pavement surface layers governing the safety of
road traffic. In Europe asphalt concrete is the most common material found in wearing courses. A
mixture of natural aggregate and bitumen is laid and compacted, then exposed to traffic. In the first
days, bitumen is the dominant material involved in the contact with tyres. However, owing to the
shear action of wheels, this thin layer is worn out, and the aggregate particles become apparent.
Then the aggregate phase determines the macro-roughness of the layer (through its grading curve)
and the bond with tyres (through its micro-roughness).
Requirements for the skid resistance of a pavement depend on the type of road section. In some
special places, such as braking zones or dangerous bends, a superior level of skid resistance is
aimed at. Artificial aggregates, most often calcined bauxite, are selected for this kind of application.
These very hard particles are either used in asphalt concrete, or sprayed on as a very thin layer of
binder, to form a surface dressing. But these materials are expensive, and the resource is limited.
More sustainable solutions are required by the road industry. This paper presents an innovative,
cement-based material designed to be a substitute to calcined bauxite in high-skid resistance
wearing course materials.

*Corresponding author. Email: francois.de-larrard@ifsttar.fr

ISSN 1468-0629 print/ISSN 2164-7402 online

© 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14680629.2012.666642
http://www.tandfonline.com
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 377

2. Aggregate requirements for pavement wearing courses

According to standards (XP P 18-545), three types of properties are critical for wearing course
aggregate particles:

(1) The material must resist shocks applied by the vehicle wheels. The resistance to frag-
mentation is measured in the well-known Los Angeles test (LA) (EN 1097-2), in which
a given mass of particles is mixed with steel balls and subject to rotations in a hollow
cylinder. The LA coefficient is the percentage of passing particles through a given sieve.
The higher the value, the softer the aggregate. This property seems relevant for aggregates
used in surface dressing.
(2) The amount of wear caused by a shear contact in wet conditions should be limited. The
Micro-Deval (MDE) test (EN 1097-1) simulates this phenomenon. Again, the higher the
value the weakest the aggregate. This second mechanical property, which is not directly
correlated with the former, applies for application in surface asphalt mixtures.
(3) Finally, after a certain degree of wear, aggregate particles must keep their micro-
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roughness, as measured with a skid resistance test (SRT) pendulum (EN 1097-8). This
polishing stone value (PSV) must be higher than a certain threshold, depending on the
destination of the pavement.

Natural aggregate particles come from a rock having a certain microstructure; a fine texture is
often associated with a high hardness, but with smooth aggregate surface. Meanwhile, a coarse
texture determines softer particles, with rough aggregate surface. It turns out that there is a conflict
between strength requirements on one hand (as expressed by LA and/or MDE) and skid resistance
(as expressed by the PSV coefficient) on the other hand. According to some researches (Tourenq
& Fourmaintreaux, 1971) PSV of natural, two-phase aggregates is governed by the hardness
difference between the two phases. With a low value for the matrix, a high PSV is obtained, with
limited mechanical properties.
Such a conflict can be addressed with a formulated, cementitious material. The friction between
tyres and the pavement surface can be enhanced by a suitable number and shape of fine peaks of
the surface texture (Delanne, 1993; Do, 2005). These picks can be generated by sand grains in a
specially designed mortar. If a high level of performance is required (through a low water:cement
ratio) the LA and MDE values of the mature material can be low. But crushing the material at early
age will create rough fracture aspects. Based on these ideas, cementitious artificial aggregates
(CAA) from crushed high-performance mortar were proposed (de Larrard, Sedran, & Lédée,
2003). In the original patent two mortar recipes were given, together with some properties of
the obtained crushed aggregates. Table 1 compares the values obtained for these materials with
conventional calcined bauxite. While the LA coefficient seems too high, results in terms of MDE
and PSV were very encouraging. Figure 1 shows how CAAs act when subject to wear in the
conventional PSV test.

3. Experimental programme
From the presented preliminary data, it was decided to further study this new area of CAA
(Martinez-Castillo, 2008). The production process was first investigated. The cementitious mix-
ture was produced in a laboratory concrete mixer. Then the fresh material was laid on the ground
between steel corner-irons, forming mortar bars which were manually cut after some minutes. A
polyethylene sheet was put over the samples to provide curing. After a curing time T, the samples
were crushed. Then artificial aggregates were sieved and kept in polyethylene bags at 20◦ C. After
28 days, the strength of mortar and the aggregate properties were measured.
 378 F. de Larrard et al.

Table 1. Properties of artificial aggregates.

Materials Calcined bauxite CAA (preliminary recipe)

Specific gravity 3.45 2.36

LA (%) 12 23
MDE (%) 10 11–13
PSV (%) 57 62
Cost (¤/t)∗ 300–400 ≈ 200
Note: ∗ According to 2008 typical cost of the French market.
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Figure 1. Effect of wear on the surface of CAAs. The matrix is first worn out; then the sand particles are
polished. SRT stands for the friction measured according to EN 1097-8.

For the design of the mortar mix, five constituents were chosen:
(1) The granular phase (sand grains). The sizes used were between 0.5 and 2 mm, and various
levels of hardness were tested corresponding to sand friability modulus values (FS, as described
in NFP 18-576 standard) ranging from 19 to 65. Both crushed and rounded sands were tested.
In the cementitious matrix, (2) Portland cement, (3) silica fume, (4) superplasticiser and (5)
water were used. The proportions were varied so that the mortar compressive strength at 28 days
ranged from 70 to 120 MPa. Also the strength at crushing time ranged from 25–35 to 45–55 MPa.
A total of 40 different types of CAA were produced. In Figure 2, the results are given in terms
of mechanical properties. Areas called A, B or C correspond to the French standard classification
(see Table 2). For high-skid resistance pavements, the A and Anc classes are required, with the
highest possible PSV values. In order to optimise the production of CAA, these data were used to
derive a general model giving the aggregate properties from mix-design and process parameters.

4. Models for CAA properties

4.1. Wear resistance (MDE)
This coefficient represents the amount of worn material after a close contact with steel.
Figure 3 shows the beneficial effect of mortar strength on the amount of wear. Figure 4,
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 379
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Figure 2. Mechanical properties of CAAs. For the best ones (with LA < 15 and MDE < 10), the
particles were heat cured at 90◦ C during 48 hours in order to enhance the cement hydration and
microstructure.

Table 2. Classification of aggregates according to XP P 18-545. For non

“nc” classes (non-compensated), one of the two first requirements may be
unsatisfied (with a maximum difference of 5 points).

Code LA MDE LA + MDE PSV

Anc ≤20 ≤15 ≤35 ≥56
A ≤20 or ≤15 ≤35 ≥56
Bnc ≤20 ≤15 ≤35 ≥50
B ≤20 or ≤15 ≤35 ≥50
Cnc ≤25 ≤20 ≤45 ≥50
C ≤25 or ≤20 ≤45 ≥50

shows that above a certain strength threshold the MDE coefficient tends to stabilise, at a level
which depends on the quality of sand grains, as described by FS (sand friability modulus,
NFP 18-576).
Finally, all data can be fitted by a semi-empirical model of the following type:

MDE = Max {a1 Rc28 + a2 D90 + a3 (D90 + a4 )FS + a5 ; b1 + b2 FS} (1)

where MDE is the Micro-Deval coefficient; Rc28 the compressive strength of the mortar at 28 days;
D90 the sieve size corresponding to 90% passing of the sand phase; FS the friability modulus of the
sand; a1 to a5 and b1 to b2 are empirical parameters, with a1 = −0.199, a2 = −10.5, a3 = 0.224,
a4 = −0.345, a5 = 42.2, b1 = 8.35, and b2 = 0.192. Figure 5 shows the quality of this model.
 380 F. de Larrard et al.
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Figure 3. Effect of mortar strength on MDE. The bottom line corresponds to pure cement paste aggregates.
The top line deals with fine mortars, with a maximum size of aggregate equal to 0.5 mm.

Figure 4. Effect of mortar strength on MDE (MSA = 2 mm).

4.2. Polishing resistance (PSV)

This property corresponds to the roughness of aggregate surface after a standard level of wear. In
the case of weak sand grains the wear will quickly smooth the surface and we may expect a low
PSV, irrespective of the mortar strength.
With harder grains and low matrix strength, grains will quit the material and other ones will
reappear, so that the roughness will stay at a comparable level. Then one can expect a negative
effect of compressive strength on the PSV. As for the maximum size of aggregate (MSA), the
larger the MSA the lower the number of contacts and specific area. These trends can be verified
on Figure 6.
Therefore we suggest a model of the following type:
For FS < FS∗
PSV = (b1 + b2 D90 )(1 + b3 Rc28 ) (2)
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 381
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Figure 5. Comparison between experimental and theoretical MDE values.

Figure 6. Effect of various parameters on the polishing stone value. The bottom line deals with soft sand
(FS > 33) mortars. The intermediate line stands for coarse hard sand, and the top line for fine hard sand.

where PSV is the polishing stone value; FS∗ a maximum value of the sand friability; and b1 , b2
and b3 empirical parameters. The best found values were the following: b1 = 71.5, b2 = −1.56,
b3 = −0.001 and FS∗ = 33. The mean error given by the model is about 1.4, which is lower than
the reproducibility of the PSV test (see Figure 7).

4.3. Fragmentation resistance (Los Angeles coefficient)

For this property, it is found that, for a given sand grain nature, there is a non-monotonic trend
regarding the influence of matrix strength: when the compressive strength increases, the LA value
increases up to a maximum then decreases (see Figure 8). However, in this test shocks are given
on aggregate particles by a number of steel balls. The dust produced by the shocks remains in the
 382 F. de Larrard et al.
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Figure 7. Comparison between theoretical and experimental values of PSV.

40

35

30

25
LA

20

15

10 Andésite 0/2 mm
Alluvionnaire 0/2 C mm
Alluvionnaire 0/2 R mm
5
Calcaire 0/2 mm

0
40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
Rc (MPa)

Figure 8. Effect of mortar compressive strength on the LA coefficient of particles, for various natures of
sand grains.

mix and could act as a protection overcoming further fine production. Therefore the LA measured
in the low strength range could be misleading in terms of assessment of in-place fragmentation
resistance of CAA.
If one restricts the model area to mixtures having a compressive strength greater than 85 MPa,
and aggregate crushed at early age, a relationship between LA value and the tensile splitting
strength of mortar is found:
LA = c1 + c2 Rt28 (3)
where Rt28 is the tensile splitting strength at 28 days, and c1 , c2 two empirical parameters. The
optimum values found for these parameters were the following: c1 = 51.5 and c2 = −4.64.
 Road Materials and Pavement Design 383

Table 3. Effect of mix-design parameters on CAA properties. Rcc is the compressive

strength at crushing time.

CAA property
Mortar mix-design parameters PSV LA MDE

FS −(FS < FS∗ ) –

Dmax –
Rc28 (for Rc28 > 85 MPa)
Rcc – –

5. Global optimisation
Table 3 recalls the effect of mix-design parameters on the various properties of CAAs. The choice
of a set of parameters will be carried out on the basis of a series of specifications, corresponding
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to a certain destination. In most cases, the specifications shall contain maximum values for LA
and MDE, and minimum one for PSV.
The FS parameter must be low enough to provide a durable microtexture to CAA. The lower
it is, the lower the value of MDE, the other parameters being insensitive. In order to maximise
the PSV value, material will be crushed at an early enough age. For the two last parameters, there
are conflicts: a large value of Dmax will produce a good attrition resistance (low value of MDE)
but a limited PSV coefficient. A small value will have the contrary effects. As for compressive
strength, a high value is favourable for the mechanical properties (LA and MDE) but tends to
limit the PSV, as already pointed out. Numerical models can be used to determine a combination
providing an acceptable compromise.

6. Conclusion
By crushing at early age a specially designed high-performance mortar, it is possible to produce
cementitious artificial aggregates (CAA) with superior properties that can be used in high skid-
resistance wearing courses. The key parameters are the choice of sand (FS value, maximum size
of aggregate) and the compressive strength of mortar, controlled by the water:cement ratio and
the presence of silica fume. A large experimental programme led to the construction of semi-
empirical models for the prediction of critical aggregate properties (LA, MDE and PSV). These
models can be used to optimise CAA for a given application.
CAAs constitute an alternative source to replace calcined bauxite, when this material becomes
scarce and too expensive. Trials of asphalt mixtures including CAAs gave positive insight on the
feasibility of high-skid resistance wearing course at an industrial scale (Martinez-Castillo, 2008).
Although CAAs exhibit a higher porosity, the amount of bitumen needed per unit pavement
surface is comparable to the one of conventional aggregate particles.

References
de Larrard, F., Sedran, T., & Lédée, V. (2005). Procédé de fabrication de granulats artificiels. Patent No.
2 858 614; 2003. Pub. No. WO/2005/016848. International application no.: PCT/FR2004/002102.
Publication date: 24.02.2005.
Delanne, Y. (1993). Modélisation de la relation adhérence/texture en fonction de la vitesse. Bulletin de
Liaison du Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées, No. 185, 93–98.
Do, M.T. (2005). Relation entre la microtexture et l’adhérence. Bulletin des Laboratoires des Ponts et
Chaussées No. 255, 117–136.
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