Analysis of Fillers to Assess the Hot Mix Asphalt Performance: Sugar Cane Bagasse.

Constructing adequate amount of infrastructure has a positive influence on the economic growth of a nation. Roads are also a type of infrastructure that is incessantly constructed to meet the vehicles demand of new roads. Consequently, the need of the hour is to construct structurally sound pavements with an acceptable level of comfort. This study used an agricultural debris known as Sugarcane Bagasse Ash (SCBA) as a filler to study its effect on the performance of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA). Methodologically, the evaluation of SCBA was performed using Indirect Tensile Strength (IDT) and Marshall Stability tests. The results show that the stability of 8.78 KN and 10.31 KN was obtained when SCBA and stone dust was incorporated in virgin HMA and at Optimum Binder Content (OBC) of 4.55 % and 4.33 % respectively. After passing 14,000-wheel tracker cycles on SCBA and stone dust samples at 30 °C resulted in average rut depth of 1.97 mm and 2.30 mm. however, these results changes significantly when the samples were tested at temperature 60 °C. In case of SCBA, the rut depth was calculated as 7.63 mm, meanwhile, a rut depth of 6.15 mm was recorded in the samples containing stone dust. IDT results indicated that this filler possess a decent resistance against freezing and thawing based on its strength of 6.7 %. To recapitulate, this filler has satisfactory tensile strength at lower temperatures. It is recommended that SCBA should be incorporated for the manufacturing of HMA in low-temperature areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]