IVESTIGATION THE EFFECT OF COCONUT FIBER’S LENGTHS ON STABILITY OF STONE MASTIC ASPHALT

Transportation Engineering

Stone mastic asphalt which is defined as a gap-graded hot mix asphalt consists more air void content and requires higher concentration of binder. This gap-graded hot mix asphalt can be designed using modified asphalt and/or unmodified asphalt with additive fibers. Coconut fibers consisting the certain amount of cellulose have been mostly used to reinforce pavements property. In stone mastic asphalt, coconut fibers have been reported with the significant improvement in terms of strength to the mixtures. In this study, coconut fiber of 5 – 20mm and 20 – 40mm are selected in order to compare their performance in stone mastic asphalt mixtures based on Marshall stability results. AC60/70 with the concentration of 6 – 7% (0.5% increment) is designated to be the binder of the mixtures. To meet the objective of the study, draindown and Marshall stability tests have been applied. The results indicate that mixtures containing 5 – 20mm coconut fiber perform better (increase approximately 5% of strength and provides more workability during mixing and compacting time) than those containing 20 – 40mm coconut fiber. The findings of this study would be beneficial to tropical regions because (1) as coconut fiber is mostly available in tropical regions, it is therefore the local authority can reach it easily so that they will have more alternative materials, (2) be able to provide more jobs to farmers as the needs of coconut fiber increase, (3) and environmental friendly as it is able to reduce the waste of coconut fruits.

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