Highway Engineering II

DEDAN KIMATHI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
PO BOX 657-10100,
NYERI
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
UNIT TITLE: HIGHWAY ENGINEERING 2
UNIT CODE: ECE 4205
NAME: KELVIN K. KIRITE
REG. NUMBER: E024-01-1451/2015
TITLE: ASSIGNMENT I
LECTURER’S NAME: DR. KIPLAGAT CHELELGO

C.A.T 1
Question One
Describe the following components of Bitumen
1. Saturates – It is a saturate fraction of bitumen that consists of non-polar material
including linear, branched and cyclic hydrocarbons(Paraffins).
2. Aromatics – Naphthenic(Non-polar) aromatics, it is a chemical component of bitumen

that consist of partially hydrogenated polycyclic aromatic compounds.
3. Resins - Polar aromatics, consist of high molecular weight phenols and carboxylic acids.
4. Asphaltenes – It is also a chemical component of bitumen that consist of high molecular

weight of phenols and heterocyclic compounds.
Question Two
While giving examples, describe in details the following types of bitumen
1. Straight-run bitumen – This is bitumen obtained from crude oil that is pumped from
storage tanks, heated through different processes, partly vaporized into an atmospheric
distillation column then treated a vacuum distillation column, generally it is produced the
residue. In Europe it is usually defined by the upper and lower limits of penetration
values, for example, a nominal 200pen grade has a range of 170-230 in the British
Standards Specifications.
2. Penetration grade bitumen – The graded bitumen is classified be the depth to which a
standard needle will penetrate under specific test conditions and this penetration test
classification is used to indicate the hardness of the bitumen. A lower penetration results
would mean or indicate a harder bitumen. Ten grades of bitumen, from 15pen (hardest) to
450pen (softest), are used in pavement materials in the UK. The hardest grades (15-
25pen) are used in mastic asphalts, the medium grades(35-70pen) are used in hot rolled
asphalts and the softer grades (100-450 pen) in macadams.
3. Bitumen cut backs – The consistencies of penetration-grade bitumens vary from very
viscous to semi-solid at ambient air temperatures, so they are normally heated to quite
high temperatures which ranges from about (140-180*C) for use in road pavements. Cut
back bitumen is capable of being applied at ambient temperature with little or no heating
and this can be classified as Slow-curing, Medium-curing and Rapid-curing depending on
the nature of the volatile solvent used in their preparation. For example, a medium-curing
is used for surface dressing or maintenance patching purposes.
4. Emulsified bitumen – It is a type of bitumen produced by mixing bitumen, water and an

emulsion making material which usually alkali salt of an organic acid or ammonium salt
which charges bitumen particles. So the bitumen particles expel each other because of
their induction charges and float in the form of balls having one hundredth to one
thousandth millimeter diameter. To use of such kind of bitumen decreases environment
pollution and as oil or flammable solvents aren’t used the danger of flaming during
transportation is decreased.
Question Three
Describe in detail the following types of bituminous mixtures
1) Dense graded asphalt – These mixes possess continuous gradation of all primary
aggregates which are packed closely together. Here inter-particle surface friction is the
reason behind their property of strength gain. All most all possible flexible pavement
constructed in the world employ dense graded bitumen mixes.
2) Open graded asphalt – The mixes have fine aggregates in a minimum amount thus they
are very permeable to water and are employed based on specific functions in the base and
for surface mixes. There are three types of open grade mixes that are employed as base
mixes;
 Asphalt treated permeable base (ATPB) which is used extensively on major
highway construction in the US.
 Bituminous macadam(BM) which is an open graded and highly permeable in
nature that cannot gain any quality in terms of strength and volumetric.
 Built-up spray grout(BUSG) used for flexible pavements.
There are also three types of open graded mix that are employed as the surface mix;
 Open graded friction course(OGFC) which consists of interconnected voids
that help to improve the surface drainage property.
 Premix carpet(PC) its laid as a wearing course with a thickness of 20mm.
 Surface dressing
3) Stone mastics asphalt – It is produced by heating hard grade blown bitumen (Oxidation)
in a green cooker (Mixer) until it has become a viscous liquid after which the aggregate
mix is then added to complete the mixture.
4) Hot rolled asphalt – It is a mixture of course and fine aggregate and asphalt binder. It is
produced by heating the asphalt binder to decrease its viscosity and then drying the
aggregate to remove moisture from it prior to mixing.
REFERENCES
 Highway 4TH Edition O’Flaherty.
 https://rabit(Raha Bitumen) Company.com
 Arya college of engineering and research Centre// Bitumen mixes for road.
 https://theconstructor.org.

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What are the different components of bitumen described?

What are the different types of bituminous mixtures described?

DEDAN KIMATHI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

UNIT TITLE: HIGHWAY ENGINEERING 2

UNIT CODE: ECE 4205

NAME: KELVIN K. KIRITE

REG. NUMBER: E024-01-1451/2015

LECTURER’S NAME: DR. KIPLAGAT CHELELGO

2. Aromatics – Naphthenic(Non-polar) aromatics, it is a chemical component of bitumen

4. Asphaltenes – It is also a chemical component of bitumen that consist of high molecular

4. Emulsified bitumen – It is a type of bitumen produced by mixing bitumen, water and an

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