Dynamic Modulus Measurements of Bound Cement-Treated Base Materials

Abstract One of the most common methods used in road-pavement construction is the stabilizing of the conventional pavement base course layer. This is achieved by adding cement or lime to gain better material performance. However, obtaining modulus input parameters from a cement-stabilized base course layer for pavement-response analysis under real traffic conditions has proven difficult in that, to date, only ambiguous results have been produced. Using the flexural modulus or elastic modulus in the response analysis has certain limitations in embracing real pavement behavior under traffic and temperature conditions. Accordingly, a more reliable modulus input parameter for pavement analysis under traffic (cyclic) loads is required to obtain more precise and reliable outputs. Moreover, there is, at present, no test protocol to determine a suitable modulus for a cement-stabilized base material under the cyclic loading regime. This study aims to examine the real dynamic responses of cement-stabilized base course materials with a view to adapting the asphalt mixture performance tester (AMPT), a specifically designed dynamic modulus test machine used on asphalt concrete material. The AMPT dynamic modulus test has as an advantage in that loading and temperature regimes based on real pavement conditions can be rationally simulated and directly applied to the test samples. As such, the dynamic moduli of a cement-stabilized base course material can be obtained under different temperature and loading rates. Moreover, the effects of the dynamic strain range, cement content, and curing duration on the dynamic responses of a cement-stabilized base course material may also be examined. Cement-stabilized base course materials of 4 %, 5 %, and 6 % cement contents (by mass) were used as the study materials. The findings of this study indicate that curing durations and cement contents significantly influence the dynamic modulus values of cement-stabilized base course materials. However, the dynamic modulus is insignificantly affected by the changes in temperature and loading rates within a specific range of testing conditions in this study. The test results also reveal that cement-stabilized base course materials under examination behave in the manner of an elastic material when subjected to an axial compressive deformation of 45–105 μstrains. This is because of the dynamic modulus having no impact upon changes in the dynamic strain ranges or on the magnitudes of cyclic loads. Moreover, the dynamic moduli from this study were found to be much higher than the elastic moduli suggested by previous studies. However, the flexural moduli, which are derived from standard flexural tests, demonstrated close values to those of the dynamic moduli obtained in this study. In the study, the dynamic modulus of cement-stabilized base course materials, derived from the dynamic modulus using AMPT, could more reasonably embrace the dynamic responses of a material under traffic-loading conditions. This leads to a somewhat more reliable modulus input for the cement-stabilized base course materials used in a rational pavement design and analysis method.