For restricted use only Report No.

LTCRTC/RND-CGBM/2016/2

Studies on Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam for

Indian Roads

L&T Construction Research & Testing Centre

Larsen & Toubro Limited, Construction Division
Manapakkam, Chennai – 600 089

October, 2016
This technical report relates only to the samples tested. The
responsibility of L&T construction research and Testing Centre (LTCRTC)
is limited only to the technical matters concerned in this report. This
technical report is prepared exclusively for restricted circulation and it
should not be reproduced part or in full, without the approval of
LTCRTC.
 Contents

Page No.

1 Introduction 1

2 Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam 1

3 Laboratory Studies 2

3.1 Open Graded Friction course 2

3.2 Cementitious Grout 4

3.3 Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam (CGBM) 6

3.4 Resilient Modulus of CGBM 9

4 Conclusions 10

References 10

Annexure - I 11
 List of Tables

Table
Table Title Page No.
No

International specification for CGBM and its

1 2
constituents

2 OGFC Gradation Limits 3

Proportions and Properties of flowable cementitious

3 4
grout

4 Strength Properties of CGBM Composite 9

Indirect Tensile Strength and Resilient Modulus Test

5 9
Results
 List of Figures

Fig No. Figure Title Page No.

1 Gradation for open graded friction course mix 3

2 Open Graded friction course Beam specimen 3

Free flow tests on grout through Marsh cone
3 5
apparatus
Cementitious Grout cube Specimens failure pattern
4 5
after Compression Test
5 Flexural Strength of Cementitious Grout 6

6 Grouted OGFC beam specimen in Mold 6

7 De Molded Grouted beam specimen 7

CGBM Marshall Specimen after Compressive
8 7
Strength Test
9 Cut beam Specimen with markings for Flexural Test 8

10 Flexural Test set up 8

11 Resilient Modulus Test Set Up 9

 Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam 2016

1. Introduction

Flexible and rigid pavements are the most common types of pavement used for highways in India. The
flexible pavements are characterized by their immediate serviceability, good riding quality and
economy in construction. Like in any structure construction, there exists certain draw backs due to
poor quality and obsolete construction methods. The flexible pavements are susceptible predominantly
to moisture damage during the monsoon, fuel spillage, raveling, bleeding and rutting. Rigid pavements
have been found to have better load carrying capacity and a longer life span but lose out on riding
comfort due to noise, more joints, high repair costs and high CO2 embodied system. All over the world
green construction methods and use of total recycling materials are being emphasized by government
agencies. The new type of pavement is also becoming popular due to green construction practices. The
composite system has the advantages of both the pavements to perform like concrete and also to be
quickly made with asphalt concrete. This semi-flexible pavement or the cement grouted bituminous
macadam is being promoted widely even in city traffics. This system is formed by porous bituminous
concrete and cementitious grouting material which is poured into the porous asphalt concrete to
improve the strength and fill voids quickly. As there is no enough data on material test procedures and
real construction practices, there is a great demand to develop robust standard practice procedures.
Larsen & Toubro Construction Research and Testing Centre (LTCRTC) initiated the work on design
and construction of Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam as a part of IRC - H9 code committee
activities and based on Chairman’s suggestion. The performance new composite layer is predicted
purely based on empirical equations. The scope includes development of medium to high strength
flowable cementitious grout, open graded bituminous macadam and evaluation of strength parameters
of their combination which is henceforth referred as Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam (CGBM).

2. Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam

The concept of composite pavement which is the combination of both rigid and flexible pavement was
popularised by L&T construction by constructing the first experimental project in India a 1 km trial
stretch (Chainage- 126+020 to 127+020), on one side of 4 lane NH-7. Since then, L&T
construction is supporting IRC in developing new and innovative construction methods for roads. The
demand in construction of roads is developing speedy construction methods, saving of natural
aggregates, and promotion of use of recycled materials.

The cement grouted bituminous macadam is similar to a composite layer in which the major
constituents are open graded bituminous macadam filled with medium to high strength flowable
cementitious grout. Cement Grouted bituminous macadam form a semi-flexible class of composites
whose behavior lies between concrete and conventional asphalt materials. The new composite layer
should be rut resistance and facilitating a degree of flexibility and resistant to fuel and oil spillage. The
semi-flexible pavement system has been developed by combining the advantages of the both pavements
to perform like concrete but to be easily constructible like asphalt concrete. Such composite layers
construction allows to be beneficial in industrial areas, airports and harbors, building layouts, IT parks
and congested city networks etc., where the traffic is associated with medium and slow and to deploy
faster construction methods.

The cementitious grout forms the core of the CGBM. Many proprietary flowable grout solutions are
available in the market. A comparative study of the proprietary products is given in Table 1. The
bituminous concrete is prepared similar to normal bituminous mix but open graded aggregate are used
so that there is sufficient void in mineral aggregates for the penetration of cement grout. The volume
of voids, thus created, will be sufficient for adequate quantity of grout to penetrate. Table 1 summarises

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some of the important parameters of international practices on a) cementitious grout as an individual

binder material, b) void percentage in bituminous concrete and c) the combined strength of bituminous
concrete filled with grout.

Table 1 International specification for CGBM and its constituents

Recommended Specifications
Sl
Property Unit Chemlink Singapore US Army
No. Confalt*
SS-141* Code corps
Cementitious Grout
1 Flow secs - 13-27 - 9
2 Compressive Strength
a 1 day MPa 25-30 55-85 ≥55 -
b 28 days 80-90 120-140 ≥110 22.8
3 Flexural Strength
a 1 day MPa 3-4 - - -
b 28 days 8-10 7-15 ≥15 -
4 Setting Time hrs 6-8 6-8 8-12 -
Open graded Bituminous Macadam
1 Air Voids % 25-30 25-30 25-30 25-30
2 Bitumen Content % - 3.6-4.6 3.6-4.6 3.5-4.5
Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam
1 Compressive Strength, 28 days 5-10 10-15 7-10 >4
2 Indirect Tensile Strength - - - >1.5
MPa
3 Resilient Modulus 8000 - - >11200
4 Flexural Strength ≥3.5 ≥3.0 ≥2.0

Notes: *proprietary grout products

3. Laboratory Studies

The scope includes the development of open graded friction course, OGFC with 25-30% voids,
development of medium to high strength flowable cementitious grout and evaluation of strength and
mechanical properties of all and combined constituents of CGBM. The following section details a few
initial laboratory trials and the results. In preparation of all test samples a similar field situation and
collection of core samples was followed.

3.1. Open Graded Friction course

The open graded friction course, OGFC was designed to furnish air voids in the range of 25-30%,
which can allow the smooth percolation of cementitious grout and thus form a semi-flexible system
capable to withstand medium traffic conditions. From Ref No. 6, the mix gradation corresponding to
south African guidelines was followed. The gradation used for the mix is given in Table 2 and shown
in Figure 1. VG-30 grade of bitumen was used for the trial mixes. Bitumen content of 2.5-3% was
found to be adequate for uniform coating and compaction of the mix. Care should be taken in selection
of the bitumen content, as excess bitumen may lead to bleeding and drained condition.

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Table 2 OGFC Gradation Limits

Sl sieve Lower Upper LTCRTC

No. sizes, mm limit limit Gradation
1 19.0 100.0 100.0 99.4
2 13.2 90.0 100.0 94.7
3 9.5 25.0 65.0 63.0
4 4.75 10.0 15.0 11.2
5 2.36 8.0 15.0 9.5
6 0.075 2.0 8.0 3.0

120.0

100.0
Percentage Passing, %

80.0

60.0

40.0

20.0

0.0
0.0 0.1 1.0 10.0 100.0
Sieve Size, mm
LTCRTC Lower Limit Upper Limit

Figure 1 Gradation for open graded friction course mix

Figure 2 Open Graded friction course Beam specimen

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In order to have good consistency in test samples, first series of OGFC slabs of size 500X150X75mm
were made. Figure 2 shows samples cast with open graded bituminous mix. From these slabs, the
flexural and Marshal samples of required size were made after completing the cement grouting. The
standard concrete beam molds were used for casting. The beams were cast with calculated quantity
of OGFC bituminous mix compacted uniformly in a steel mold with a vibratory compactor for
approximately 3 minutes. The voids in the beams were calculated as per ASTM D 3203 guidelines for
OGFC mixes and the average value of voids content in the OGFC samples was 31%.

3.2. Cementitious Grout

The Cementitious grout consists of cement, water and super plasticizer in suitable proportion so as to
produce a material that can flow easily into the voids of the bituminous mix. Additional mineral
additives, like fly-ash, slag, micro-silica etc., are also useful in developing the suitable grout. Care
should be taken to improve the flowability of grout by suitable additives. The flow characteristic of
the grout was evaluated using a Marsh cone (Figure 3) as per ASTM C939 guidelines. The Marsh cone
was calibrated using water before the test on grouts. The flow tests with water were recorded as 8.0
seconds which confirms the specified value of ASTM. The compressive strength of the grout was
determined as per ASTM C 109 by casting the cubes of size using 50 X 50 X 50 mm. The flexural
strength of the cementitious grout (Figure 5) was determined as per IS 4031 Part 8 on 160X40X40
beam specimens. The proportions and strength results of cementitious grout developed at LTCRTC
are given in Table 3.

Table 3 Proportions and Properties of flowable cementitious grout

Mix 1 Mix 2 Mix 3 Mix 4

Ingredients
%
OPC-53 64.5 38 62.8 80.6
FLY-ASH 0 41.8 15.7 0
Water 35.5 20 21.1 18.8
Additive 0 0.29 0.39 0.54
W/C 0.54 0.25 0.27 0.23
Flow-ASTM D 939,S 19 26 25 22
Grout Strength, MPa
Comp. strength 3 Days 12 15 40 77
Comp. strength 7 Days 20 35 58 99
Comp. strength 28 Days 45 61 85 109
Flex. Strength 28 Days 5 6 8 12

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Figure 3 Free flow tests on grout through Marsh cone apparatus

Figure 4 Cementitious Grout cube Specimens failure pattern after Compression Test

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Figure 5 Flexural Strength of Cementitious Grout

3.3. Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam (CGBM)

CGBM test slabs were made by grouting OGFC slabs of size 500 X 150 X 75 mm, as described in
Section 3.0. The corners and all edges of the beam molds were sealed before grouting to avoid any
leakage of the grout. The cementitious grout was poured on the OGFC slab and then spread uniformly
using a small scrapper. Mild vibration using a vibratory hammer was used on the sides of the steel
mold for 30 seconds to ensure complete percolation of the grout to the bottom of the slab. Grouting
was continued until the entire calculated grout quantity is consumed by the OGFC slab. It is necessary
to ensure no leakage of the grout from the mold to prepare uniform CGBM specimens. A grouted slab
sample is shown in figure 6. The slab was de-molded (Figure 7) the following day and cured with
moistened jute bags for 3 days. Then 100 mm diameter Marshall Core samples of thickness 60mm and
180X60X60mm beam samples (Figure 9) were extracted from the CGBM slabs. These core and beam
samples were cured for 28days with a moistened jute bag. The Marshall Core samples were tested for
their compressive strength (Figure 8), Marshall Stability and Retained Marshall Stability tests. The
compression tests were performed at a rate of loading of 1.8kN/sec. The beam specimens were tested
for their flexural strength (Figure 10) as per ASTM C 78 guidelines. The test results are given in
Table 4.

Figure 6 Grouted OGFC beam specimen in Mold

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 Cement Grouted Bituminous Macadam 2016

Figure 7 De Molded Grouted beam specimen

Figure 8 CGBM Marshall Specimen after Compressive Strength Test

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Figure 9 Cut beam Specimen with markings for Flexural Test

Figure 10 Flexural Test set up

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Table 4 Strength Properties of CGBM Composite

Sl No Properties Unit Mix1 Mix 2 Mix 3 Mix 4

1 Compressive Strength,7 days 5 6.2 7.3 9.1
2 Compressive Strength, 28 days 9.3 9.1 11.3 12.2
MPa
3 Flexural Strength, 7 days - 1.7 2.7 2.3
4 Flexural Strength, 28 days - 3 2.6 2.9
5 Marshall Stability 28 days kN 21 22 - -
Retained stability, 28 days, 60°C
6 % 95 93 - -
water

3.4. Resilient Modulus of CGBM

The Resilient modulus tests were done as per ASTM D 7369 guidelines and the experimental set up
is shown in Figure 11. The resilient modulus test was done at 35C. The compressive load of 15% of
the indirect tensile strength was applied along the vertical diametric plane of a cylindrical specimen
of 100mm diameter with a frequency of 1 Hz. The specimen was loaded for 0.1 sec and unloaded for
0.9 sec. The resulting horizontal and vertical deformations of the specimen were measured. The
Indirect Tensile strength and Resilient Modulus Test Results are given in Table 5.

Figure 11 Resilient Modulus Test Set Up

Table 5 Indirect Tensile Strength and Resilient Modulus Test Results

Property Mix1 Mix 2 Mix 3 Mix 4

Indirect Tensile
1.03 1.04 1.10 1.12
Strength @ 35ºC, MPa
Resilient Modulus @
13450 14436 14841 15201
35ºC, MPa

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4. CONCLUSIONS
1. The OGFC gradation as given in Fig.1 with 3% VG 30 bitumen provides consistent voids content of
31%.
2. There are many cementitious grouts of different strengths suggested in international literature in the
construction of CGBM layers. For Indian conditions four specific strength grouts were developed
within range of M40 to M100. The flow characteristics of the grouts were evaluated as per ASTM C
939. M40 grade grout is recommended for medium to low traffic conditions.
3. Penetration of cement grout to full depth should be established in the construction of CGBM layer. It
is essential to use the mild vibratory rollers for achieving the effective penetration of the grout.
4. The CGBM samples compression, flexural and resilient modulus are found to be far superior compared
to bitumen macadam layers. The laboratory trials are also confirming with international guidelines.
Hence, the CGBM layers can be recommended for even high traffic conditions.
5. In the absence of real site test data and laboratory experimental results in India and to promote the new
concept of CGBM layers, a set of guidelines were arrived and are given in Annexure 1 for medium and
low traffic conditions. The strength values recommended are about 25-30% of the experimental data
of LTCRTC.

REFERENCES

1. Gary Lee Anderton, 2000 “Engineering Properties of Resin Modified Pavement (RMP) for
Mechanistic Design” US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development centre.
2. Dong Qing Wu, Daud and Yanli Zhang, 2011 “ The semi-rigid pavement with higher performances
for roads and parking aprons” CAFEO 29, Sustainable Urbanization – Engineering Challenges and
Opportunities
3. J. R. M. Oliveira, S.E. Zoorob, N.H. Thom and P. A. A. Pereira, 2007“A Simple approach to the
design of pavements incorporating grouted macadams”, 4th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
BITUMINOUS MIXTURES AND PAVEMENTS Thessaloniki, Greece, 19-20 April 2007
4. Confalt Technical Data-Semi Flexible wearing Course.
5. Eucodensit Densiphalt Handbook.
6. Gerald Huber, NCHRP, Synthesis of Highway Practice 284 “Performance Survey on Open Graded
Friction Course Mixes”. PP 17 TABLE 7-TRB 2000

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ANNEXURE –I

Cement Grout Bituminous Macadam specifications for medium to low traffic

LTCRTC
H9
Average
S No Properties Units Committee
Test Method Used Test Recommendations
Proposal
Results
1 Open Graded Friction Course (OGFC)
OGFC aggregate South African OGFC South African
1.1 - - Passing
Grading Grading OGFC Grading
Voids in OGFC,
1.2 % - ASTM D3203 30 25-30
Range
Binder Content
1.3 % 3.5 - 3 3
(VG-30), min
2 Cementitious Flowable Grout
OPC 53 OPC 43 or OPC
2.1 Grade of Cement - - IS 8112, IS 12269
used 53
IS 3812 Part 2
Flyash for
Flyash (Minimum 65%
2.2 - - Passing concrete
Specifications
application
sieve)
Setting Time of
2.3
Grout
2.3.1 Initial Setting time - 5.3 4-5
Hrs IS 4031 Part 5
2.3.2 Final Setting time 6-8 7.5 6-8
Characteristic ASTM C 109 size
Compressive (50 X 50 X 50 mm)-
2.4 N/mm2 40 40-100 40
strength @ 28 Rate of Loading 900-
days, Min. 1800 N/sec
4031 Part 8 (Sample
Flexural strength Size – 160 X 40 X
2.5 N/mm2 6 10 5-7
@ 28 days, range 40)-Rate of Loading-
50N/sec
Fluidity-ASTM
2.6 Sec 10 ASTM C 939 23 20-30
C939$
3 CGBM for Top Layers
Voids in CGBM @
3.1 % - ASTM D 3203 2.86 2-3
7 days, Range
Penetration of
grout to full cross
3.2 % - Visual >95% 97%
section Depth @ 7
days

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LTCRTC
H9
S No Properties Units Committee Average
Proposal Test Method Used Test Recommendations
Results
Compressive
strength on standard
Compressive
Marshall samples
3.3 strength of CGBM N/mm2 4-6 10.5 6
(100mm dia X 60
@ 28 days, Min.
mm) -Rate of
Loading-1.8KN/sec
Resilient Modulus
3.4 @ 28 days @ N/mm2 8000 ASTM D 7369 14000 5000
35
ASTM C 78 (Beam
Flexural strength
3.5 N/mm2 3.5 size 180 x 60 x 60 2.85 2.5
@ 28 days, Min.
mm)
Marshal Stability
3.6 KN 20 ASTM D 6927 25 20
@ 28 days, Min
Indirect Tensile
3.7 Strength test @ 28 N/mm2 1.4 ASTM D 6931 1.1 1
days @ 35°C, Min.
Retained stability
3.8
of CGBM
Retained stability
3.8.1 @ 28 days @ 60°C 90 94 90
MoRTH-V-
water, Min.
% Annexure to
Retained stability
Appendix 4
3.8.2 @ 28 days @ 25°C - - 90
water, Min.
Retained ITS
3.9 strength @ 28 % 95 AASHTO T 283 - 85
days, Min
Abrasion
3.10 % 0.25 - - -
Resistance IS 9284
Loss of material in
7 days of
3.11 % 0.5 - - -
immersion in diesel
oil, Max.
CGBM Layer
3.12 thickness in mm 40 - - 40
Construction. Min.

$ - Note: Fluidity is a very important factor and it is governed by type of cement, flyash and water
to cementitious ratio (W/C). The W/C ratio recommended is 0.25 to 0.50.

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 LTCRTC POT
HOLE MIX

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