An Experimental Investigation on Use of Bitumen Emulsion in the Construction of Gravel Road

Abstract

The base soil is one of the nature’s most common construction materials. Almost all types of construction are built with or upon the soil since centuries till today. The most important and effective part of a road pavement is sub grade soil, its strength and stability. If strength of soil is poor, then stabilization is normally needed. Sub grade is sometimes stabilized or replaced with stronger soil material so as to improve the strength. Such stabilization is also suitable when the available subgrade is made up of weak soil and hence has poor stability. Increase in the sub grade soil, strength may lead to economy in the structural thicknesses of a pavement. The most commonly used materials for soil stabilization are Cement, fly ash, lime, fibers, polymers etc. In the present study, an attempt has been made to improve the properties of the gravel soil by adding bitumen emulsion. An attempt has been made to use the emulsion for improving the strength of gravel soil expressed in terms of CBR values which may prove to be economical and give better results. In this study, the whole laboratory work revolves around the basic properties of soil and its strength in terms of CBR. A little cement added to provide better soil strength. It is observed that excellent soil strength results have been achieved by using cationic bitumen emulsion (CMS) with little quantity of cement used as filler. The appropriate mixing conditions for gravelly soil with CMS bitumen emulsion are being first attempted. This is followed by deciding four particular material conditions to show the variation in dry density and CBR value to achieve the best possible strength properties of gravel soil.