A Laboratory Study on Use of Bitumen Emulsion in Gravel Road

Abstract

Soil is one of nature’s most abundant construction materials. Almost all type of construction is built with or upon the soil. The most important part of a road pavement is subgrade soil and its strength. If strength of soil is poor, then stabilization is normally needed. Subgrade 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. Increase in sub grade strength may lead to economy in the structural thicknesses of a pavement. Cement, fly ash, lime, fibers etc. are very commonly used for soil stabilization. The main objective of this experimental study is to improve the properties of the black soil by adding bitumen emulsion. An attempt has been made to use emulsion for improving the strength of black soil expressed in terms of CBR values which may prove to be economical. 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 by using cationic bitumen emulsion (CMS) with little quantity of cement used as filler. The appropriate mixing conditions for black soil with CMS Bitumen emulsion have been 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 black soil. Here we use ideal soil of passing 600 microns IS Sieve.