Experimental investigations on the usage of the diatomite instead of fiber in the stone mastic asphalt mixture

In our country 95 percent of the passenger transportation and approximately 90percent goods transportation are provided by using the highway transportationsystem. However on the our highways, increasing high volume of annualaverage daily traffic (AADT) and over loading and addition of negative effectsof climate and construction conditions cause the permanent deformations likethat fatigue cracking, rutting and shoving. The most common deterioration typeis the rutting due to the heavy vehicles and their overloading. The constructioncost of the bituminous hot mixtures reaches huge prices. If we don?t want to thecosts come to nothing we must construct high quality roads with adaptation ofdeveloping technology, regarding the our country conditions. It is known bypeople interested in highways technology SMA (Stone Mastic Asphalt) mixturesbehaviours are better than the other hot mix types in the hot climate conditionsand under the heavy traffic loads. Because of our restricted financial sourcesevery type of engineering projects must be economic, productive and it has lowmaintenance cost. In this aspect, the use of SMA mixtures provides significantadvantages in improving the performance of pavements. Improving the newtype of the SMA mixtures and increasing application of SMA mixtures are veryimportant to prolong the pavement life. In this study, it was investigated thatDiatomite material can be applied or not in the SMA mixture and its advantagesviifor the our country economy. For that purpose, Marshall designs were preparedand the rutting tests were performed to find out plastic deformation behaviorsand the fatigue life of the SMA mixtures was determined using four pointbending beam fatigue test. And also indirect tensile tests were carried out on theSMA mixtures. Therefore, the effects of the diatomite on the performance ofSMA mixtures were researched, by analysising these tests results.Science Code : 911.0.822Key Words : Stone Mastic Asphalt, Rutting, Diatomite, FatiguePage Number : 188: Yrd. Doç. Dr. M.Kür at ÇUBUKAdviser