HIGHWAY MATERIALS

Soil- is defined as all the earth material, both organic and inorganic, that blankets the rock crust
of the earth.
-are products of the disintegration of the rocks of the earths crust. This disintegration or
weathering has been has been brought about by the action of chemical and mechanical forces
that have been brought about by the action of chemical and mechanical forces that have been
exerted on the parent rock formations for countless ages.

Soil may be described in terms of the principal agencies responsible for their formation
and position:
o Residual soil- is one that, in its present situation, lies directly above the parent
material from which it is derived.
o Aeolian soils- soils formed by the action of wind. A typical example of a windblown
soil deposit is seen in the very considerable deposits of loess in the Mississippi
Valley.
o Glacial soils- occur in many parts of the United States. An example of such a soil
deposit is a glacial till, which is a deposit of tightly bonded materials containing
particles ranging in size from boulders down to very finely divided mineral material.
Soils formed through the action of water are generally termed sedimentary soils. Typical
sedimentary soils are formed by the settling of soil particles from a suspension existing in
a river, lake, or ocean.
Soils may also be described in terms related to the amount of organic material contained
in them.
o Inorganic soils- soils in which the mineral portion predominates.
o Organic soils- large amount of organic matter is contained. It is identified by their
dark brown to black color and distinctive odor.

General Soil Types

o Sand and Gravel- are coarse-grained soil types possessing little or no cohesion and
with the particle size ranging from 80mm for coarse gravel to 0.08mm for fine sand.
Gravel- usually applies to natural pit, river, or bank gravels consisting
largely of rounded particles
Crushed gravel or crushed stone- the term applied to the products of
crushing larger rocks into gravel sizes.
o Silt- term applied to fine-grained soils of low to medium plasticity, intermediate in size
between sand and clay.
-generally possess little cohesion, undergo considerable shrinkage and expansion
with change in moisture content.
o Clays- are distinguished by the occurrence of very fine grains of 0.002mm or finer.
-generally possess medium to high plasticity, have considerable strength when dry,
undergo extreme changes in volume with change in moisture content and are
practically impervious to the flow of water.
Lean Clay- term given to silty clays or clayey silts.
Fat clay- fine colloidal clays of high plasticity.
o Loam- agricultural term used to describe a soil that is generally fairly well graded from
coarse to fine, that is easily worked, and that is productive of plant life.
o Loess- is a fine-grained Aeolian soil characterized by its nearly uniform grain size,
predominantly silt and by its low density.
o Muck- is soft silt or clay, very high in organic content, which is usually found in swampy
areas and river or lake bottoms.
o Peat- is a soil composed principally of partially decomposed vegetable matter.

-with extremely high water content, woody nature and high compressibility making
it undesirable foundation material.

Basic Soil Properties

o Moisture content- is defined as the weight of water contained in a given soil mass
compared with the oven-dry weight of the soil and is usually expressed as a
percentage.
o Specific gravity- as applied to soils, is the specific gravity of the dry soil particles or
solids.
-frequently determined by the pycnometer methodthe determination being
relatively easy for a coarse-grained soil and more difficult for the finer soils.
o Unit weight- is the weight of the soil mass per unit of volume and is expressed in
pounds per cubic foot (kilograms per cubic meter).
Wet unit weight- refers to the unit weight of a soil mass having a
moisture content that is anything different from zero.
Dry unit weight- refers to the unit weight of the soil mass in an ovendry condition.
o Shearing resistance- commonly attributed to the existence of internal friction and
cohesion.
-a simplified explanation of this property is most easily accomplished by
consideration of two extremely different types of soils: first is a cohesionless
sand and second is a highly cohesive clay.
Other soil properties
o Permeability- property of a soil mass that permits water to flow through it under the
action of gravity or some other applied forces.
o Capillarity- property of soil that permits water to be drawn from a free water surface
through the action of surface tension and independent of the force of gravity.
o Shrinkage- reduction in volume that occurs when the moisture content is reduced
from that existing when it is partially saturated or saturated.
o Swelling- term used to describe the expansion in volume of a soil mass that
accompanies an increase in the moisture content.
o Compressibility- property of soil that permits it to consolidate under the action of an
applied compressive load.
o Elasticity- is the property of soil that permits it to return to its original dimensions
after the removal of an applied load.
Aggregates
-refers to granular mineral particles that are widely used for highway bases,
subbases, and backfill.
-are used in combination with a cementing material to from concretes for bases,
subbases, wearing surfaces, and drainage structures.
o Properties of aggregates
Particle size and gradation- key property of aggregates used for
highway bases and surfaces. The gradation of aggregates is the blend
of particle sizes in the mix, affects the density, strength and economy
of pavement structure.
Hardness or resistance to wear- materials used in highway pavements
should be hard and resist wear due to the loading from compaction
equipment, the polishing effects of traffic, and the internal abrasive
effects of repeated loadings.

Durability or resistance to weathering- commonly measured be a

soundness test which measures the resistance of aggregates to
disintegration in a saturated solution of sodium or magnesium sulfate.
It simulates the weathering of aggregates that occurs in nature.
Specific gravity and absorption- are important properties that are
required for the design of concrete and bituminous mixes. The specific
gravity of a solid is the ratio of its mass to that of an equal volume of
distilled water at a specified temperature. The absorption of water is
usually expressed as a percentage of the mass of the dry aggregate.
Chemical stability of aggregates- aggregates that exhibits increase in
strength due to film stripping are called hydrophilic aggregates and
conversely, hydrophobic aggregates show little or decrease in
strength.
Particle shape and surface texture- specifications for aggregates used
in bituminous mixes usually require that the aggregates be clean,
tough, durable in nature and free from excess amounts of flat or
elongated pieces, dust, clay balls and other objectionable materials.
Freedom from deleterious particles or substances- cleanliness of
aggregate is generally guaranteed by the inclusion in the specifications
of requirements relative to the maximum percentages of various
deleterious substances that are permitted to be present.
Bituminous materials
-are used extensively for roadway construction, primarily because of their excellent
binding or cementing power and their waterproofing properties, as well as their
relatively low cost.
-consists of bitumen which is a class of black or dark-colored solid or viscous
cementitious substances composed chiefly of high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons.

Asphalts- are the residues of petroleum oils

-have no odor, are more resistant to weathering and less susceptible to
temperature than tars which have a pungent odor and react to weathering
and temperature.
-will be dissolved in petroleum oils
Tars- are residues from the destructive distillation of organic substances such as
coal, wood or petroleum.
-obtained from destructive distillation are crude tars which must undergo
further refinement to become road tars.
-used to seat asphalt concrete surfaces such as fog seals to improve the oil
resistance of asphalt surfaces.
-usually brown-black in color and are not used extensively as binders for
highway pavements.

Ductility
-is generally meant that property of a material that permits to undergo great
deformation without breaking.
-assumed to measure the cementing power of the asphaltic material.
Volatility tests and aging tests
o Distillation- performed on bituminous material is simply to separate the volatile
from the nonvolatile substances.
o Loss on heating- a sample is exposed to heat in a close vessel and the percentage
of loss on heating may then be calculated.

Thin-film oven test- relatively high temperature are used in the plant mixing of
asphalt cements and aggregates. Excessively high temperatures, however, are
detrimental, hardening the mixture and reducing pavement life.
Flash point- two methods on determining the flash point of native and petroleum
asphalts used in highway work:
Tagliabue Open Cup method- flash point of cutback asphalts wherein
heating takes place in a glass cup held in a water bath.
Cleveland Open Cup method- flash point determinations on other
asphaltic materials wherein the asphalt is heated in a metal container
suspended in an air bath.

Portland Cement
-is a material that reacts chemically with water by a process called hydration to
form a stonelike mass.
-composed of four principal compounds: tricalcium silicate, dicalcium silicate,
tricalcium aluminate and tetracalcium aluminoferrite. Raw materials used in the
manufacture of Portland cement include lime, iron silica, alumina, gypsum and
magnesia.
o

Types of Portland cement that are frequently used in highway construction:

Type I- termed standard or normal Portland cement and is intended
for use in general concrete construction where the cement is not
required to have special properties.
Type II- is also regarded as a standard type of Portland cement and is
used for general concrete construction. It is specifically recommended
for use in situations in which the concrete will be exposed to moderate
sulfate action or where a moderate heat of hydration is required.
Type III- is high early strength cement. It differs from standard types
described in that concrete made from it attains, in a much shorter
period of time, compressive and flexural strengths that are comparable
to those attained by concrete in which the same amount of one of the
standard type is used.