CE 53500 – Bituminous Materials and Mixture Design

Credits and contact hours:

  • 3 credits
  • Lecture meets 2 times per week for 50 minutes per meeting for 15 weeks
  • Lab meets 1 time per week for 2 hours 50 minutes per meeting for 15 weeks

Specific course information:

  • Catalog description: Consideration of major types of bituminous materials-asphalt cements, cutback asphalts, asphalt emulsions, and tars. Influence of chemical composition upon physical properties. Desirable aggregate characteristics for bituminous mixtures. Construction techniques. Current practices for determining optimum asphalt contents.
  • Prerequisites: CE 33100 minimum grade of C- [may not be taken concurrently] or equivalent, CE 33300 minimum grade of D- [may not be taken concurrently] or equivalent, graduate standing
  • Course status: Elective course

Specific Goals for the course:

  • Student learning outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course the student shall be able to:
    • Perform basic asphalt, cutback, emulsion, and aggregate testing.
    • Select the proper asphalt product for a particular application.
    • Combine aggregates into blends to meet specifications.
    • Develop asphalt mixtures based on volumetric principles.
    • Complete asphalt mixture designs including choosing the proper binder content for a given aggregate blend.
    • Describe the asphalt mixture production process.
  •  Relationship of course to program outcomes
    • Outcome 1: An ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
    • Outcome 2: An ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors.
    • Outcome 5: An ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks and meet objectives.

Topics:

  • Introduction
    • Basic concepts and fundamental principles
  • Bituminous materials
    • Crude oil processing
    • Asphalt binders, cutbacks, and emulsions
    • Conventional binder testing
    • Emulsion and cutback testing
    • Performance graded binder tests
    • Performance graded binder specifications
    • Performance graded binder selection
  • Aggregates
    • Aggregate production
    • Aggregate processing
    • Aggregate Properties and testing
    • Aggregate gradation
    • Aggregate blending
  • Mixture design
    • Volumetrics
    • Mixture Design Purpose
    • Marshall mixture design method
    • Hveem mixture design method
    • Superpave mixture design materials
    • Superpave mixture design method
  • Asphalt Mixture Construction
    • Asphalt mixture production
    • Asphalt mixture placement
    • Asphalt mixture compaction