Abstract:
Many leaders in the construction industry are considering newer environmentally friendly (green) and economically viable ways to produce concrete as a result of the growing threat of global warming and the high cost of raw materials for the production of cement, which is generally regarded as the second most used material in the world after water. Pavement construction makes an effort to endure environmental factors and traffic loads over the course of its design life. Semi-flexible pavement may be a better option to address the drawbacks of rigid and flexible pavements. Open-graded asphalt mixture with 20 to 35% voids makes up the semi-flexible pavement surface, which is then covered with highly flowable cementitious grouts for infiltration. In the current investigation, customized cementitious grouts were created by substituting bentonite (10 to 40%) for cement with a changing water to cement ratio (0.30 to 0.40). The grouts were subjected to flow test, 7-days and 28-days compressive strength and were analyzed using “Response Surface Methodology (RSM)”. The compositions were also optimized using RSM, which were concluded to be 22% Bentonite and 0.40 w/c ratio. The optimum composition of grouts was then utilized to prepare grouts and poured into the voids of open-graded asphalt mixture specimens. The semi-flexible specimens were tested for Marshal Stability and Fuel resistivity tests. HMA specimens were also prepared for comparing with semi-flexible. The results indicated that semi-flexible showed superior performance in terms of Marshall Stability and fuel resistance. Moreover, partially replacing Cement with Bentonite will also leads to sustainability in pavement construction.
