Bituminous mixes are most commonly used all over the world in flexible pavement construction. It consists of asphalt or bitumen (used as a binder) and mineral aggregate which are mixed together, laid down in layers and then compacted. Under normal circumstances, conventional bituminous pavements if designed and executed properly perform quite satisfactorily but the performance of bituminous mixes is very poor under various situations. Today’s asphaltic concrete pavements are expected to perform better as they are experiencing increased volume of traffic, increased loads and increased variations in daily or seasonal temperature over what has been experienced in the past. In addition, the performance of bituminous pavements is found to be very poor in moisture induced situations.

Considering this a lot of work has been done on use of additives in bituminous mixtures and as well as on modification of bitumen. Research has indicated that the addition of polymers to asphalt binders helps to increase the interfacial cohesiveness of the bond between the aggregate and the binder which can enhance many properties of the asphalt pavements to help meet these increased demands. However, the additive that is to be used for modification of mix or binder should satisfy both the strength requirements as well as economical aspects.

Bituminous binders are widely used by paving industry. In general pavements are categorized into 2 groups, i.e. flexible and rigid pavement.

Flexible Pavement

Flexible pavements are those, which on the whole have low flexural strength and are rather flexible in their structural action under loads. These types of pavement layers reflect the deformation of lower layers on-to the surface of the layer.

Rigid Pavement

If the surface course of a pavement is of Plain Cement Concrete then it is called as rigid pavement since the total pavement structure can’t bend or deflect due to traffic loads.

Pavement design and the mix design are two major considerations in case of pavement engineering. The present study is only related to the mix design of flexible pavement considerations. The design of asphalt paving mixtures is a multi-step process of selecting binders and aggregate materials and proportioning them to provide an appropriate compromise among several variables that affect mixture behaviour, considering external factors such as traffic loading and climate conditions.

Objective of Bituminous mix design

Main objectives of bituminous mix design are to find;

1. Optimum bitumen content to ensure a durable pavement,

2. Sufficient strength to resist shear deformation under traffic at higher temperature,

3. Proper amount of air voids in the compacted bitumen to allow for additional

compaction done by traffic,

4. Sufficient workability, and

5. Sufficient flexibility to avoid cracking due to repeated traffic load.