HIGHWAY TECNOLOGY

PAT 303/3
 Course Outline

1. Highway Materials
2. Hot Mix Asphalt Design
3. Highway Construction
4. Pavement Structure Thickness Design
5. Highway Drainage and Maintenance
Highway Materials
 Introduction
• The need of road started from intervention of wheel in Samaria 3000BC.
• Among the early road inventions were:
1. China Dynasty – ‘China Silk Route’ built around 2600 BC. Transport silk and
elephant.
2. Parsian Empire – Trade involving import and export such as silk, porcelain
wood and etc. between China and Europe.
3. Britain – Raft road built around 2500 BC.
4. India – Indus Valley where roads made of bricks equipped with pipe as
drainage.
5. Mesopotamia and Egypt – Brick road and asphalt road found in Babylon. In
Egypt road was built to transport block and rocks to construct pyramid.
6. Roman roads – 5000km of road was built from Cadiz in west coast of Spain
passing German, Italy, Turkey, Syria, Africa and return to Tangeir forming a
ring road. Three structered layers constructed; flat earth surface, gravel
surface and paved.
 Introduction
• Famous road designers in 18th century:
1. Robert Phillips – Suggested that a layer of gravel placed on roadbase with
good drainage would be compacted by traffic and become hard surface
(1736).
2. Traseguet (1716) – introduced cheaper construction method and cambered
formation. Side drain and large stone on subgrade were also applied. Large
stone caused differential settlement.
 Introduction
3.John Metcalf (1717) – known as Blind Jack of Knaresborough. He constructed 290
km road in Yorkshire including bridges, culverts etc. Stressed on the use of proper
drainage and subbase.
 Introduction
4.Thomas Thelford (1757) – Designed 1600 km road, canal, bridges etc. in Britain
and Northern Europe. Road was designed with flat formation, subbase and camber.

5.John Macadam (1756) – first expert in road engineering. Designed road with
chambered formation and small angular aggregate.
 Types of Road Pavement
1. Dirt road – original soil or compacted embankment as surface. Normally
constructed in rural and typical soil is laterite.

2. Gravel road – layer of aggregate spread on compacted soil forming stronger

road.

3. Surface dressing – one or more layers of aggregate spread on a layer of

bitumen. Suitable for maintenance or road with low traffic volume.
 Types of Road Pavement
4. Flexible road pavement – cater for higher volume and heavier traffic compared to
gravel and dirt roads.
i. Asphaltic concrete – more superior material and widely used. Designed for
higher traffic volume and provide good riding quality.
ii. Porous pavement – same structured layer with asphaltic concrete pavement
except the wearing course is constructed with open graded mix to provide
interconnected voids to enable water to infiltrate and flow on the impermeable
binder course layer to side drain. The advantages of porous pavement are:
• Reduce flash flood on road surface.
• Reduce water spray from front vehicle.
• Reduce noise from tyre surface contact.
• Reduce glare effect.
However, the cost is more expensive and prone to clog problem.
iii. Stone Mastic Asphalt – same structured layer with asphaltic concrete pavement
except the wearing course is constructed with gap graded aggregate.
5. Rigid road pavement – similar structure layers with flexible pavement except
concrete is used as surface material. The advantages are:
i. Stronger mater
ii. Longer service life
iii. Less maintenance
However, the cost is much higher, need more time before open to traffic and could
cause higher maintenance cost if defects occur.
6. Semi rigid road pavement – used widely at intersection, curves , bus stops.
Interlocking block is used as surface material.
 Road System in Malaysia
• Road Mileage
– Federal road 18,015 km
– State road 73,855
• Surfacing Types
– Concrete roads 343 km
– Asphalt roads 87,626 km
– Earth/gravel roads 3,651 km
 Road System in Malaysia
• In Malaysia road can be categorized to five types based on the
source of funding for construction and maintenance.
1. Federal road
• To connect entry point, main cities and states
• Built and maintained using federal government.
2. Tolled road
• Built and maintained by concession company under Malaysia Highway
Authority monitoring.
• Alternative to federal road.
3. State Road
• Built to improve within state transportation mode
• Built and maintained using state fund.
4. District and Municipal Road
• Within township council or district including roads built by housing developers
• Using own budget subsidized by federal.
5. Other Small Road
• Built in rural areas and maintained by district office using state budget.
• Some are substandard due to low traffic volume.
 Road System in Malaysia
• For design purpose, road are classified into six types (standards) according to the
usage and traffic volume of the respective roads.

R1/U1 Lowest geometric design standard

One-way traffic
e.g: Entrance to the restricted area or low-cost housing
ADT < 150

R2/U2 Low geometric standards for two way flow with non-control access
Applied only to local traffic with low volumes of commercial traffic
e.g: Minor roads and local streets
ADT = 150 - 1000

R3/U3 Low geometric standards and serves mainly local traffic with partial
or no access control
e.g: Secondary roads, collector or major local street
ADT = 1000 - 3000

R4/U4 Medium geometric standards with partial access control

e.g: Primary, secondary, minor arterial and major collector roads
ADT = 3000 - 10000

R5/U5 High geometric standards with partial access control

e.g: primary and arterial roads
ADT > 10000

R6/U6 Highest geometric standards with full access control

e.g: rural and urban expressway
ADT > 10000
 Pavement Layers
• Typical flexible pavement consist:
– Subbase; distribute load, drainage, temp.
access.
– Base/roadbase; main layer to distribute load.
– Surface; consist of binder course and wearing
course. Provide riding quality with good skid
resistance and withstand traffic load.
 Pavement Layers
• Subgrade
– Soil layer providing platform for material above it to be constructed.
– Must have acceptable strength and stability.
– Factor influence strength; type of soil, moisture content, method and effort of
compaction.
– Unsuitable material; silt, peat, toxic material, and any material that:
• Highly organic clay and silt.
• LL > 80% and/or PI >55%
• Susceptible to spontaneous combustion.
• LOI > 2.5%
• Contain large amount of roots, grass and other vegetation.
– Test required for subgrade material are:
• LOI – Loss of Ignition
• LL and PL
• Compaction
• CBR
 Pavement Layers
• Subgrade
– CBR
– To determine the bearing capacity of soils as compared to the strength
of standard crushed aggregate.
– Relationship between loads and penetration is established when
plunger is forced to penetrate. Loads at 2.5mm and 5.0mm are divided
by standard loads where the results are in percentage known as CBR.
 Pavement Layers
• Subbase
– Platform for roadbase, distribute load.
– Drainage layers
– Temp. access during construction
– Protect subgrade
– Separator layer between subgrade and roadbase
– Typical material used for subbbase:
• Laterite – CBR >20%
• Crushed aggregate – well graded with size 75mm to dust, CBR
>30%
• Stabilised soilstable – CBR >60%
• The material should pass requirement for CBR, LL, PI, ten
percent fine value, LA abrasion value and sieve analysis.
 Pavement Layers
• Roadbase
– Main layer to support load.
– Dry Bound Macadam – unbound material and strength depend on the aggregate
interlocking. Constructed in two layers; first layer is single size coarse agg. vibratorily
compacted to allow sand to fill the voids. Advantage – less segregation, low cost.
– Wet Mix Macadam – well graded crushed aggregate mixed with 2-5% water at plant.
Typically constructed 200-300 mm. Advantage – less segregation during
tranportation, easy to compact.
– Bituminous Macadam Roadbase – produced at asphalt plant by mixing agg, filler and
bitumen 4-5%. More costly but distribute load better. Reduce overall pavement
thickness.
– Cemented Stabilised Roadbase – crushsed agg mix with ordinary cement 3-6%.
The compacted cement stabilizer layer need to cure before surface layer can be laid.
– Composite – two layers; lower layer is unbound and the top is bound material either
bituminous macadam or cemented stabilized base.
– All material must pass requirement for CBR, PI, ACV,Flakiness Index, Durability and
sieve analysis.
 Pavement Layers
• Surface Layer
– This layer is cambered for drainage and constructed with
asphaltic conc. or hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixes. Material used
are agg, filler and bitumen.
– Binder course – distribute load to roadbase, provide flat and
even platform for wearing course. Typical max. agg size is
28mm and mixed with bitumen 3.5-5.5%. Denoted as ACxx. Xx
shows max. agg size in the mix.
– Wearing course – skid resistance surface, protect underneath
layer, good and safe riding, support traffic load, drainage layer.
Typical max agg is 14mm and mixed with bitumen 4-7%.
Denoted as ACxx. Xx shows max. agg size in the mix.
– All material must pass requirement for agg, bitumen and mixture.
 Pavement Materials
• Bituminous mix consists of agg mixed binder
(bitumen/asphalt) and filler (ordinary
cement/hydrated lime)
• Aggregate – 93% of the mix. Strength is resulted
from agg interlocking. Distribute load from traffic
to pavement.
• Bitumen/Asphat – binder to glue agg together to
from improved mix.
• Filler – fills the voids between agg. Help stiffening
binder.
 Pavement Materials
• Aggregates
– Collective term of sand, gravel and crushed
stone mineral material in their natural or
processed state (NSSGA, 1991).
– In hot mix asphalt (HMA), agg are combined
with a asphalt binding medium to form a
compound material.
– Agg also used by itself or with a stabilizer for
base and subbase course.
 Pavement Materials
• Aggregate origin and production
– Can be natural or manufactured.
– Natural – extracted from larger rock through an
open excavation.
– Manufactured – industrial byproducts such as
slag (byproduct of the metallurgical processing
– typically produced from processing steel, tin
and copper). Special rock produced to have
particular physical properties (lighweight).
 Pavement Materials
• Aggregate Physical Properties
– Strength – to withstand crushing, impact, during construction
and traffic load.
– Durability – resistance to disintegration under weathering.
– Shape & surface texture – help in interlocking, resistance to
sliding.
– Affinity – properly coated binder.
– Relative density & water absorption – stripping, drying time, mix
design.
– Resistance to wear (hardness) – polished under traffic, skid
resistance.
– Gradation – quality & pavement strength.
 Pavement Materials
• Aggregate size
– Maximum size – one sieve larger than the nominal maximum
size.
– Nominal maximum size – one sieve larger than the first sieve to
retain more than 10% of the material.
– Instability may results from excessive small maximum size. Poor
workability and segregation result from excessive large
maximum size.
– Course aggregate – (>2.36mm) crushed aggregate.
– Fine aggregate – (2.36 – 75 micron) fine crushed aggregate,
sand.
– Mineral filler – ( < 75 micron) fine material (ccement, lime, dust)
 Pavement Material
• Test on aggregate:
– Aggregate Crushing Value and Ten Percent Fine Value – resistance to
crushing under gradually applied compressive load.
– Aggregate Impact Value – resistance to sudden shock or impact.
– Los Angeles Abrasion Value – degradation under combine of abrasion
or attrition, impact and grinding.
– Soundness – resistance to disintegration due to cycle of wetting and
drying, heating and cooling (weathering)
– Flakiness and Elongation Index – shape test.
– Specific Gravity & water absorption – relative density, pores and
absorption.
– Coating & stripping – stripping susceptibility.
– Polished stone value – test on agg for wearing course.
– Sieve analysis – separation of agg according to specific size.
 Pavement Materials
• Test on Aggregate Properties
• ACV – Aggregate Crushing Value
• To determine the percentage agg crushed by applying compressive load.
• Compress agg for 10 min. with gradually applied load up to 400kN and then sieve the agg
usign 2.36 seive size and determine the weight passing to calculate ACV.
• ACV = weigh pass sieve 2.36 mm x 100%
Weight original
• TFV – Ten Percent Fine Value
• To determine the load need to crush the aggregate with 10 percent fine.
• Sample prepared similar to ACV, then apply the expected load to produce 10% fine.
• Calculate the percentage of fine and calculate exact load using the following formula. The fine
is in range of 7.5 – 12.5%.
• TFV = 14f
4+y
Where f = load applied
y = percent crushed.
• AIV – Aggregate Crushing Value
• To determine percent crush due to impact load.
• Aggregate passing 14mm and retained 10mm is subjected to 15 times of impact loading.
• After impact, calculate the weight crushed using 2.36mm sieve.
• AIV = weigh pass sieve 2.36 mm x 100%
Weight original
 Pavement Materials
• Test on Aggregate Properties
• LAAV – Los Angeles Abrasion Value
• To determine the percent of degradation under combination of abrasion or attrition, impact and grinding.
• Agg weight 5000 g placed in a steel drum with specified number of steel ball.
• Drum rotated 500 revolution at 33rpm. Agg are sieved with 1.70mm sieve.
• LAAV = weight pass sieve 1.7mm x 100%
Weight original
• Soundness
• To determine resistance to disintegration due to cycle of wetting and drying, heating and cooling (weathering).
• Agg are soaked in solution of sodium or magnesium sulphate for 16-18 hours.
• Remove sample and put in an oven at 105deg. C for 16-18 hours. Repeat the same process for complete 5
cycles. Then wash and dry the sample. Sieve the sample and calculate the soundness.
• Soundness = weight pass sieve x 100%
Weight original
• FI – Flakiness Index
• To determine percentage of flaky agg. An agg is considered flaky when its thickness is less than 0.6 times its
average dimension. Agg need to be tested is between 6.3mm to 63mm.
• Each agg inserted to the specific slot and record the weight of passing agg.
• FI = weight pass slot x 100%
Weight original
 Pavement Materials
• Test on Aggregate Properties
• EI – Elongation Index
• To determine percentage of elongated aggregate. An agg is considered elongated when its thickness is more
than 1.8 times its average dimension. Agg to be tested is between 6.3mm to 63mm.
• Each aggregate is to be inserted to the specific slot and record the weight of retained agg. Agg retained is
considered elongated.
• EI = weight retained slot x 100%
Weight original
• SG & WA – Specific Gravity & Water Absorption
• Can be used to indicate strength and porosity of aggregate. Agg with high specific gravity expected to have
high strength. High water absorption suggest that agg need more time to dry during mixing process and could
absorb more asphalt.
• Agg is washed and soaked in distilled water for 24 hours. Weight in water and record as C. remove agg and
dry with damp towel and weight as B. Then put it in the oven for 24 hours to dry and weight it as A.
• WA = (B-A)/A x 100%
• SG = A/(B-C)
• Coating & Stripping
• To determine the adhesion of the bitumen ad the aggregate with the influence of water.
• Two types of aggregate; hydrophilic and hydrophobic. Hydrophilic agg is difficult to be coated compared to
hydrophobic agg.
• Agg and bitumen are heated and mixed. Soaked the coated agg 16 – 18 hours in distill water. Determine the
coated surface area whether more or less than 95%.
 Pavement Materials
• Test on Aggregate Properties
• PSV – Polished Stone Value
• For aggregate used for wearing course. PSV indicates the resistance to polishing effect by
traffic. Polished agg influence the skid resistance of pavement.
• Sample preparation – 3 sets of samples prepared where each set has 4 specimens. Each
specimen should have 35 – 50 agg size 10mm. Cement mortar used to bind agg. Two
controlled specimens using agg from Criggion Quarry. All specimens need to be cured before
test.
• Sample polishing – accelerated polishing machine is used. All specimens attached to the
406mm diameter wheel. Specimens will in contact with 200mm diameter rubber tyre with 390
kN. While the wheel spins at 315 – 325 rpm, water and corm emery are fed for three hours and
for the final three hour, water and emery flour used as polishing agents.
• Measuring skidding resistance – British Pendulum Tester used to determine the skid
resistance. The rubber of slider and specimen surface need to be wet prior to testing.
Pendulum is release and record skid resistance. Repeat 5 times and get average of last 3
readings. PSV is determine by converting the skid value.
• Sieve Analysis
• A sample of dry aggregate of known weight is separated through a series of sieve. Once
separated, the weight of particle retained on each sieve is measure and compared to the total
weight.
• Particle size distribution is then expressed as a percent retained by weight in each sieve.
• Result are usually expressed in tabular or graphical format.
 Pavement Materials
• Bitumen or Asphalt
– Dark brown to black, highly viscous, hydrocarbon produced from
petroleum distillation residue.
– The distillation can occur naturally resulting in asphalt lakes or occur in
a petroleum refinery using crude oil.
– In HMA, asphalt function as waterproof, thermoplastic, viscoelastic
adhesive.
– 4-8 % of HMA and 25-30 % of HMA.
– Paving industries also use asphalt emulsion, asphalt cutbacks and
foamed asphalt.
– Asphalt cement refers to asphalt that has been prepared for use in HMA
and other paving application.
– Asphalt binder includes asphalt cement as well as any material added to
modify the original asphalt cement properties.
 Pavement Materials
• Asphalt Physical Properties
– Can be classified by chemical composition and physical properties.
– The most important physical properties are:
• Durability – measure how much asphalt binder physical properties change
with age (age hardening). As an asphalt binder ages, its viscosity increases
and it become stiff and brittle.
• Rheology – study of deformation and flow of matter. HMA pavement that
deform and flow too much susceptible to rutting and bleeding those that are
too stiff susceptible to fatigue cracking.
• Safety – volatilizes when heated. At extreme temperature asphalt cement
can release vapor to increase the volatile concentration immediately above
the asphalt cement to a point where it will ignite when exposed to spark. The
flash point is tested and controlled.
• Purity – asphalt cement should consist pure bitumen. Impurities are not
active cementing constituents and may be detrimental to asphalt
performance.
 Pavement Material
• Grading system
– Penetration grading – based on the depth a standard needle will penetrate an asphalt
binder sample when placed under 100g load for 5 seconds at 25 deg C. Penetration
grades are listed as a range of penetration units (one penetration unit = 0.1mm of
penetration by standard needle).the selection of grade depends on the climate. Softer
grade is preferred for cold climate.
– Viscosity Grading – measure penetration but also measure an asphalt binder viscosity
at 140oF and 275oF. Test can be done for virgin (AC) or aged (AR) asphalt binder.
Typical asphalt binder used in US are AC-10, AC-20, AR-4000. viscosity grading is
better grading system but not test low temperature asphalt binder rheology.
– Superpave Performance Grading (PG) System – involves expected climatic conditions
and aging consideration. PG system used comment test but specifies that a particular
asphalt binder must pass these test at specific temp that dependent upon the specific
climate condition in the area of intended use. Superpave performance grading
reported using 2 numbers – the first being the average 7 day max pavement
temperature and second being the min pavement design temp. PG 64-16 is intended
for use where the average 7 day max pavement temperature is 64 oC and the expected
min pavement temp is -16oC.
 Pavement Material
• Test on Asphalt Properties
– Penetration Grade
• Penetration test – to determine the needle penetration for asphalt binder
• Softening Point Test – to determine softening of bitumen
• Ductility Test – to determine the ductility of a bitumen
• Flash and Fire Point Test – to determine temperature the bitumen start
• Thin Film Oven Test – to evaluate shor t term aging of bitumen during mixing at the plant.
• Viscosity Test – to determine the resistance to flow of a bitumen.
• Loss on Heating – to determine the loss of weight due to heat.
• Specific Gravity – ratio of the mass of the material at a given temperature to the mass of an equal volume of
water at same temperature
• Solubility Test – to determine purity of bitumen

– Performance Grade
• Dynamic Shear Rheometer
• Rolling Thin Film Oven
• Pressure Aging Vessel
• Bending Beam Rheometer
• Direct Tension Test
• Rotational Viscometer
 Pavement Material
• Asphalt Binder Modifiers
– In general asphalt cement should be modified to achieve the following types of improvement:
• Lower stiffness (or viscosity) at the high temperature associated with construction. This facilities
pumping of the liquid asphalt binder as well as mixing and compaction of HMA.
• Higher stiffness at high service temperature. This will reduce rutting and shoving.
• Lower stiffness and faster relaxation properties at low service temperature. This will reduce thermal
cracking.
• Increased adhesion between the asphalt binder and the aggregate in the presence of moisture.
Reduce the likelihood of stripping.
• Other Forms of Asphalt
– Emulsified Asphalt – suspension of small asphalt cement globules in water, assisted by an emulsifying
agent (such as soap). Emulsions have lower viscosities thus can be used in low temp. After emulsion
applied, water evaporates and left the asphalt cement only. Used as prime coats and tack coats. 3 types
namely rapid set (RS) (tack coat), medium set (MS), slow set (SS) (prime coat.
– Cutback Asphalt – combination of asphalt cement and petroleum solvent. Lower viscosity thus be used in
low temp. after cutback applied, solvent evaporates and left asphalt cement only. Less of usage due to cost
of petroleum solvent and environment issue. Same usage as emulsion asphalt. 3 types; rapid curing (RC),
medium curing (MC) and slow curing (SC).
– Foamed Asphalt – combination of hot asphalt binder with small amount of cold water. Cold water turns hot
asphalt binder to steam which becomes trapped in tiny asphalt binder bubbles resulting in thin-film, high
volume asphalt foam. This high volume foam only last for few minutes. Used as binder in soil or base
course stabilization and as the stabilizing agent in cold in-place recycling.