Investigation of usability of the vermiculite instead of cellulosic fiber in stone mastic asphalts

Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) pavements, developed to prevent the formation of rutting, which is one of the most common deteriorations in pavements, stand out its high grain contact, high interlocking ability and structure with high bitumen content. In this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of adding vermiculite instead of cellulosic fiber as an additive in SMA pavements on the indirect tensile strength and resistance to stripping. Desing parameters was determined according Marshall test method. In the study, indirect tensile test was applied to conditioned and unconditioned samples containing vermiculite and cellulosic fiber additives. According to test results, it was observed that the indirect tensile strength of the unconditioned samples containing vermiculite was higher than the unconditioned containing cellulosic fiber, and it was concluded that the rutting resistance of the samples containing vermiculite could be higher. It was observed that the indirect tensile strength of the conditioned samples containing vermiculite and cellulosic fiber had approximately the same values. In addition, according to the results of the Nicholson stripping test, it was observed that the vermiculite additive was more resistant to stripping compared to the cellulosic fiber.