Influence of Fibres and Fillers on the Performance of Stone Matrix Asphalt

Stone matrix asphalt (SMA) is a gap graded mix known to be rut resistant because of the stone-on-stone contact within the aggregate skeleton. Cellulose fibres are generally added to an SMA mix to reduce the drain down of the binder because of the presence of higher binder content in a typical SMA mix. The presence of higher binder content and the addition of cellulose fibres make the SMA mix costlier than a typical dense graded mix. Thus this study attempts to replace the widely used cellulose fibres in SMA by other natural and waste fibres in order to make the SMA mix cost effective. Five types of fibres are considered: cellulose fibres, coir fibres, jute fibres, glass fibres, and fibres obtained from refrigerator door panel waste (RDPW and three different fillers are considered: quarry dust, lime, and fly-ash. The slab samples prepared with different fibres and fillers were tested using a wheel tracking device at 55 °C to measure its rutting performance whereas the extent of damage due to moisture was studied through the indirect tensile strength test (ITS) and tensile strength ratio (TSR)