Bitumen rubber asphalt mix testing for South African pavement design method

Abstract

Paper presented at the 30th Annual Southern African Transport Conference 11-14 July 2011 "Africa on the Move", CSIR International Convention Centre, Pretoria, South Africa.

The South Africa National Road Agency Ltd has entered into a research and laboratory testing agreement with the CSlR to support the revision of the South African Pavement Design Method (SAPDM). The research includes characterising a bitumen-rubber semiopen graded mix, known in South Africa as BRASO. The general concern was whether the BRASO asphalt mix can be tested under the same test conditions as conventional asphalt mixes using the recently developed test protocols for SAPDM. This paper presents the analyses of laboratory testing data of a BRAS0 mix. The fundamental mechanical properties, including dynamic modulus, permanent deformation and beam fatigue characteristics of the BRASO, were determined in laboratory to enable future monitoring of the field performance of BRASO. It is anticipated that the test results presented in this paper will provide the required basis to develop reliable BRAS0 resilient response and damage models for SAPDM.