Laboratory investigation of stone mastic asphalt mixtures containing coconut fiber

Abstract

Coconut fiber has been widely used in many applications especially in the pavement purposes. In this study, the properties of stone mastic asphalt (SMA) mixtures mixing with three different lengths (5 - 20, 20 - 40, and 40 - 60 mm-long) and contents (0.1, 0.3, and 0.5% by mass) of coconut fiber were investigated. The properties including Marshall stability, draindown, indirect tensile strength, and tensile strength ratio were carried out on 12.5 mm NMAS of SMA mixed. The optimum asphalt binder content was determined for each mixture. The experimental results revealed that SMA mixtures containing 0.3% of 5 - 20 mm-long coconut fiber provided the optimum properties based on SMA specifications for Marshall compacted design and had better performance as compared to other mixtures.

Keywords

• coconut fiber
• draindown
• indirect tensile strength
• marshall stability
• stone mastic asphalt (sma)