COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON FATIGUE CHARACTERISTICS OF NANO-CLAY MODIFIED AND PLAIN DENSE BITUMINOUS MACADAM MIX

摘要

In this study, organized study was carried out to use Nano-clay as a Modifier in Dense Bituminous Macadam (DBM) mix using VG-40 to study the Fatigue characteristics such as Resilient Modulus, Fatigue life, Initial Tensile Strain and Fatigue line coefficients. Before conducting Fatigue test, Marshall Stability test and Indirect Tensile strength tests were conducted. Marshall Specimens were casted for varying percentages of Nano-clay (0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%) to find the Optimum Binder Content for various percentages of Nano-clay. The Optimum Binder Content obtained for varying percentages of Nano-clay (0%, 0.5%, 1% and 1.5%) are used to conduct Indirect Tensile Strength Test. The Indirect Tensile strength test results were used to fix the stress levels for conducting Fatigue test. The Indirect Tensile Fatigue test (ITFT) was conducted for 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% loading for varying percentages of Nano-clay (0%, 0.5%, 1 % and 1.5%) in Dense Bituminous Macadam mix using VG-40 as the binder. This test results were analysed and it was found that DBM mix with Nano-clay as an additive gave better Marshall Stability and Indirect Tensile Strength values as compared to the conventional Dense Bituminous Macadam mix. Moreover it was also found that DBM Mix with Nano-clay as an additive showed better Fatigue characteristics as compared to plain DBM mix.