Abstract

The content and type of ingredient materials are used to prepare the asphalt mix to affect the pavement surface's quality. This study aimed to investigate the compaction characteristics of Stone Mastic Asphalt Pavement (SMAP) mix using two different types of mineral fillers; namely, crushed stone and Ambo sandstone dust with local material enset fiber. Results indicated that the filler type and the content with or without fiber have a great effect on compaction characteristics of Stone Mastic Asphalt Pavement. The test results also showed that the addition of enset fiber in asphalt mix increases density, compaction energy, and strength of asphalt mix and reduces Marshall flow of the mixes. Besides, crushed stone dust and Ambo sandstone dust with enset fiber affect the Marshall property and compaction characteristics of the stone mastic asphalt mix differentially. The Ambo sandstone dust filler has a low density and has high binder absorption capacity compared with crushed stone dust filler in SMA mixes. In this study, the optimum binder content for the mixture by using Ambo sandstone dust (8%, 6.41%), (8.5%, 6.48%) & (10%, 6.43%) as well as the mixture using crushed stone dust filler at (8%, 5.84%), (8.5%,6.32%) & (10%,5.96%) was determined. The optimum fiber content obtained at 0.3% suggests that using enset fiber in stone mastic asphalt mixture improves the strength of asphalt pavements to resist external loads. The enset fiber at 0.3% better modifies stone mastic asphalt pavement properties. Finally, it is postulated that the performance of pavement is affected by filler type and content. Simultaneously, the Marshall property has a linear relationship with compaction characteristics. It showed the possibility of constructing stone mastic asphalt pavement in Ethiopia by using locally available materials.

Abstract

The tailings dams failures can cause serious disasters. Compaction is an important property that affects the safety of tailings dams. Tailings particles are also getting smaller due to advances in mineral processing technology. The shapes of particles of different sizes are also different. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the compaction of tailings taking into account the fine particle content and particle shape. A series of consolidation compaction tests were conducted, and the shape of the tailings particles was observed. The results showed that the shapes of clay particles are mainly needle and slice. The shapes of silt particles are mainly granular and plate. Clay tailings have higher compaction degree. Besides that, variations in silt and clay particles contents can further result in different compaction degree. Also, increased clay particles can cause differences in the tailings consolidation process. But Merchant model can accurately predict the strain-time relationships for sand tailings and clay tailings.