Masters Theses

Abstract

"The writer of this thesis believes that the most important thing next to the original construction cost of a road, is the maintenance cost. It is apparent that the maintenance cost for any given road is directly proportional to the percentage of worn out sections in that road. It is believed that climatic conditions are the very first cause of road failures and that traffic on the road often has a secondary degree of importance in the causing of road surface failures….

It is obvious that extreme heat as well as extreme cold will ruin a road. A heavy traffic volume on a hot asphalt surface will naturally penetrate the surface and cause some roadway irregularities. The most common example of this fact is an asphalt airfield runway that sustains relatively heavy loads, during periods of warm weather.

The rubber asphalt roads constructed before World War II in Belgium, Holland, and in England, as well as in the East Indies, prove that despite war damages, heavy military traffic, and lack of care and maintenance, are more durable and superior than our present roads.

Realizing the importance and possibilities of such asphalt-rubber road construction in America, many well known rubber companies sent their experts overseas in order to study and investigate the means by which our present construction methods could be applied to this type of road. Simultaneously, these companies started asphalt-rubber research in their extensive laboratories.

In the summer of 1949, the Virginia Highway Department constructed three test strips containing powdered rubber on route 250. By means of · these experimental sections, they attempted to find out the probable improvement in the skid-resisting properties obtained when a small amount of powdered rubber was added to the various asphalt mixtures.

Mr. Tilton E. Shelburn, Director of Research, Virginia Department of Highways, states that (1), "Information concerning foreign experiments with rubber in bituminous road surfaces indicates that such combinations may have merit. It is claimed that the addition of small percentage of rubber results in a more durable mixture - one that is less susceptible to temperature changes, thereby having less tendency to bleed or shove at high temperatures or to crack at low temperatures. Resistance to skidding is also said to be improved."

Upon completion of these field tests, research engineers of Virginia Highway Department published a complete report containing nine important conclusions. The last sentence of their report reads as follows (2 ): “It is suggested that comprehensive laboratory research be conducted to determine fundamental properties of rubber asphalt."

This statement furnishes an objective for this study. The primary being to determine, by means of laboratory tests, same characteristics of common asphalt-rubber mixtures that will lead to a better understanding of these rubber-asphalt mixtures.

While this study will not solve all of the problems connected with rubber-asphalt mixtures, it is hoped that the results of the study will furnish a sound basis for future research in the rubber-asphalt field"--Introduction, pages 1-3.

Advisor(s)

Muir, Clifford D.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Civil Engineering

Publisher

Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy

Publication Date

1951

Pagination

iv, 48 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (page 47).

Rights

© 1951 Yali Cevat Hasan, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Subject Headings

Asphalt concrete -- Additives -- TestingPavements -- EvaluationPavements -- Testing

Thesis Number

T 956

Print OCLC #

5984426

Electronic OCLC #

947717682

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