SECOND NA TlONAL

, ASPHALT CONFERENCE
I MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
•
APRIL, 1973

AUSTRALIAN
ASPHA LT PAVEMENT
ASSOC IATION LIM ITED

Pa per 2/6

Construction of Full Depth

and Deep Strength
( Asphalt Pavements

i3y John D . Bethune , M .I E. Aus t.,

Assis tant M ater ials Research En[lineer,
Co untry noa ds Boa rd o f Victoria
 I

CONSTRUCTION OF FULL DEPTH AND DEEP

I
STRENGTH ASPHALT PAVEMENTS I

BY
I
John D. Bethune I
Assistant Materials Research Engineer,
I
Country Roads Board of Victoria
I

I
1. INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this paper is to · draw attention to some of the I

( advantages and problems associated with construction of full depth
and deep strength asphalt pavements. The comments are based on a I
recent overseas study tour for the Country Roads Board to study the
design and use of such pavements as carried out overseas.
I

2. DEFINITION OF TERMS USED I

(a) Asphalt. A well designed, thoroughly controlled, mixture of I
bitumen and high quality well graded fine and coarse aggregates,
(sometimes with a mineral filler) mixed, spread and thoroughly
compacted while hot to a uniform dense mass. I
Particular mixes are sometimes called bituminous concrete or I
asphaltic concrete.

(b) Deep lift paving technique. This is a PAVING TECHNIQUE whereby

the asphalt base course is placed in one or more lifts of four
( or more inches compacted thickness.

(c) Deep strength asphalt pavement. A pavement constructed of asphalt

for the surface and base, placed on a granular or stabilised subbase.

(d) Full depth asphalt pavement. A pavement in which asphalt is

used for all courses above the subgrade or improved subgrade. A
FULL DEPTH asphalt pavement is laid directly on the prepared
subgrade.

The following may clarify the make up of the various pavement types
considered:

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A. CONVENTIONAL PAVEMENT

//////////// // Asphalt or seal surfacing (Say 4")

U "oo...t!J<l
Q 4
() 0
Crushed rock base (wet mix) (Say 10")

Granular Subbase (Say 10")

Subgrade

TOTAL PAVEMENT DEPTH 24"

B. DEEP STRENGTH ASPHALT PAVEMENT

Asphalt in two· or more layers (Say 9")

,~ ,'(,I : a 8) ,C 'J .'~ , '..... ,
(
, CJ _ , ','> •• , - _ .. 1 D :
I

Crushed rock or lime stabilised sub- (Say 6")

)// ...~ ;e/",""""'/// . ~' // I~":::: '/ base
Subgrade
TOTAL PAVEMENT DEPTH lS"

C. FULL DEPTH ASPHALT PAVEMENT

Asphalt in two or more layers (Say 12")

Subgrade
TOTAL PAVEMENT DEPTH 12"

3. FUTURE OF FULL lH';PTH AND DEEP STlt i:NGT H ASPHALT PAVEMENTS

IN AUSTitALIA

The use of full depth asphalt road s is not new as shown by the inscription
on a brick found in the ruins of the Procession Street in ancient Babylon . (Re d ).
The inscription is dated in the period between 625 and 604 BC, and reads:

"Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, he who made !::saglia and Ezlda

glorious, son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon. The streets of Babylon,
the Procession street of Nabu and Mardok, my Lords. Which Nabopulassar,
King of Babylon, the father who begat me had made a road glistening
with asphalt and burnt bricks; 1 the wise suppliant who fears their
lordships, placed above the bitumen and bricks, a mighty superstructure
of shining dust made them strong within with bitumen and burnt bricks
as a high lying road."

The first asphalt road on record in France was 1852 , Londun In l869 and
United States in 1870.

All locations visited had laid deep strength and full depth asphalt pavements
and 1 could not locate any evidence of failure or concern. Examples of
major users of this type of construction are (a) State of Kans as, 2400 miles
of full depth roads and highways, (b) City of Vancuuver, over 200 mi les of
full depth since 1947 (about 8"-9" thick), (c) Township of Woodbridge in
New Jersey has constructed 135 miles of 7" - 9" full depth asp ha lt pavement of
th e ir 250 mile street system, in a heavy industrial area, on c lay subgrades
of CBR 2-7, in the last ten years.

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 - 3 -

Construction in Melbourne has been mainly confined to Municipalities

and generally of deep strength type of construction, e.g. Coburg
City about 10 miles in last 10 years. Every project must of course be
looked at separately to find the most economical satisfactory solution;
however I consider deep strength and full depth pavements have a future
in Victoria, particularly in urban areas for reconstruction of city
streets.

The main advantages of a full depth pavement are : -

(a) It re quires a much shorter construction period than a conventional

pav ement and with adequate planning a city block can be excavated
and the first layer of asphalt placed in the one day, causing
least inconvenience to the travelling public and perhaps more
importantly, waterproofing the subgrade, thereby eliminating the
consideration of weather as a major problem for the balance of the
construction. Shortening of construction time in busy areas is
becoming a critical factor overseas. Most widening jobs for
freeways use full depth or deep strength pavements for this reason.
(
(b) About half the depth of conventional granular pavements is
required, thus reducing cost of service relocation and quantities
of excavation.
Equivalency factors are usually of the order of 1.0 inch of asphalt
equals 2.0 inches of granular base and 1.0 inch of asphalt equals
between 2.7 and 3.0 inches of granular subbase. The surfacing is
usually asphalt in any ca s e and would have a unity factor; however
where temperatures of up to at least 140 0 F are recorded in the top
2 inches of asphalt in Australia there is insufficient test data to
know what influence this has .

(c) In general, cost is less than or not more than conventional pave -
ments, even allowing for the high cost paid for asphalt in Victoria
when compared with overseas. (Average cost of aggregate in
Melbourne would be around $4.25 ton, bitumen $51 ton, asphalt on job
$12 to $13 ton and labour $2 to $3 per hour; as compared with
American costs - converted to Australian costs and tons - of
( aggregate $3 . 70 ton, bitumen $40 ton, asphalt on job about $10,
labour $5 to $6 per hour).

(d) The subgrade has a lower moisture content and therefore greater
s trength under a full depth a s phalt pavement, when compared with
deep strength or conventional granular pavement. This is on the
basis of testing carried out on test roads in various parts of
North America and Canada. One recent report (Ref . 2) showed that an
asphalt pavement base without a granular subbase (i.e. full depth)
had a granular base equivalency of 3 .4 compared with 2.0 when the
granular subbase was included (i.e. deep s trength).

The main disadvantages of a full depth asphalt pavement are:-

(a) Placing the first layer of a s phalt on a poor subgrade. The heavy
wheel loads of a paver or truck can fail the subgrade during
construction.

(b) Having sufficient plant capacity for produ c tion of asphalt to keep
the paver in continuou s operation wh en using deep lift paving
technique.

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4. DIFFERENCE IN CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES USING FULL DEPTH ASPHALT

With a good subgrade there is no change in plant requirements from a

conventional pavement and a paver can be used to place all layers of
asphalt. Mixing plant capacities and truck capacities usually limit
layer depth to between 4 to 6 inches (in any case it is better to
cover, say, all the subgrade with 4 inches of asphalt rather than
half with 8 inches of asphalt). On poor subgrades it is usually
necessary to employ other means of placing the first layer of asphalt,
such as: -

(a) Dumping the asphalt from a conventional truck, bottom dump truck,
flow boy truck, box spreader, or side winder or conveyor on rear
of conventional truck from existing pavement, and then spreading
with a grader or dozer. Good level control and profile can be
obtained with competent operators.

(b) Dumping from conventional trucks into a New Jersey type box
spreader on front of dozer or tracked froot end loader.

The other major differences in construction technique between full

depth asphalt paving and normal hot mix asphalt surfacing are:-

(i) The bottom layer should be at least 4 inches, preferably 5 to 6

inches consolidated depth to avoid the subgrade failing during
rolling.

(ii) Using deep lifts of 4 inches or more the mix temperature of the
asphalt can be as much as 50 0 F lower than fOT the same mixes
placed in thin layers under the same conditions. The previous
0
layer of asphalt should have cooled to at least 150 F before
0
placing the next asphalt layer with a temperature of around 250 -
0
260 F at time of initial compaction .

(iii) Each project should be analysed as soon as construction starts

to arrive at the proper compaction procedure with the equipment
to be used and to establish the most desirable mix temperature.
Minimum temperature at completion of compaction should be 185 0 F
one inch under the asphalt surface. (

(iv) Rolling patterns for deep layers should start in the centre of
the laid asphalt mat and progressively advance towards the edges,
especially with unsupported edges; rather than start at the
lower edge and progressively advance aCTOSS the laid asphalt mat
as is common practice for compacting thin layers of asphalt.

(v) If breakdown or initial compaction is to be done with pneumatic

tYTed rollers, the tyre size should be at least 9.00 x 20" (the
20 tl rim diameter is critical as a minimum according to overseas
experience) and 75 to 90 psi tyre pressure. It would seem that
layers of asphalt from 4 to 6 inches deep would require at least
10 passes of a 10 ton steel roller, at least 8 passes of 15 to
20 ton pneumatic tyred roller, or at least 8 passes of a vibratory
roller imparting a dynamic force of at least 21,000 pounds •

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 - 5 -

(vi) Passages of loaded trucks over t he subgrade should be limited

to 2 to 3 passes on anyone spot. This may mean opening up
shorter lengths of subgrade at anyone time. In some jobs the
subgrade may be stabilized (e.g. lime or cement) to provide a
working platform. (These comments can apply equa lly to a
conventional pavement construction on a poor subgrade). Minor
soft spots are sometimes sub-excavated 3" to 4" below subgrade
level and filled with asphalt and lightly compacte d a few hours
before laying first layer of asphalt. This is instead of
digging out the soft spot and filling with granular material, as
has been common practice in the past, leaving a reservoir for the
subgrade moisture to co ll ect.

It is gene rall y agreed by al l concerned with construction of deep lift

pavements that it is much easier to obtain specified densities, mainly
due to heat retention in thicker l ayers of asphalt and the fact that
the deeper layers a llow more room for the aggregates to move during
compaction, particularly if a pneumati~ tyred roller i . used. There
is general agreement that specif i ed compaction can be readily obtained
(
with present rollers even on poor s ubgra des . In support of this, the
shoulders on the ramps at Mickleham Road interchange on Tullamarine
Freeway were reconstructed in Au gust 19 72 by the Country Roads Board
with abo ut 9 inches of full depth asphalt (8 inches of l ~" asphalt in
two layers and one inch of 3/8" s urf acing in one lay er) on a heavy
c lay subgrade of CBR 2-3. Benkelman Beam test s show the average deflec-
tion of the completed pavement to be 22 thousandths of an inch and cores
cut have s hown that an average of 7.0 per cent voids in the l~" aspha lt
(range 5.9 to 7.8 per cent) was obtained on this soft subgrade (up to
10 per cent voids is normally acceptable for l~ inch asphalt).

5. ASPHALT MIX DESIGN

(a) The Marshall method of design as used by Country Roads Board is

satisfactory and the most wide l y used method in the countries
visited.

( (b) Considerable research has been carried out on dynamic testing

rather than the present static test in g of aspha lt. Far from
being a practic al proposition at this stage.

(c) A 3/4" nominal size surface mix is commonly used in North

America and Canada for the entire pavement, including the surface.
The Country Roads Board has issued a circ ular enco urag i ng the use
of 1/2" in lieu of 3/ 8" nominal size for surface mixes. Larger
size should lead to reduced cost, grea ter stability and better
sk id resistance, provided aggregate of high PSV is used.

(d) We sho uld continue to use dense graded asphalt in Victoria with
about 4 to 5 per cent voids, though some consideration sho uld be
given to gap graded mixes, particularly in difficult compaction
circumstances, such as widening trenches, as evidence seems to
indicate that a gap graded asphalt mix i s much easier to compact
th a n a dense graded aspha l t mix.

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 - 6 -

(e) Bitumen penetration of 85 to 100 is used by most authorities

visited. General opinion is that a hardoe r bitumen of, say, 65
to 70 should be used near the surface on roads carrying very
heavy traffic and in hot climates, and a softer bitumen of, say,
150 to 200 or 300 to 400 penetration in areas of very cold
climate such as northern Canada ( - 30 to - 40 0 C).

(f) The question of the use of empirical penetration tests as compared

with the more fundamental viscosity testing for control of bitumen
properties is a hotly debated subject. America is slowly swinging
to viscosity testing for control of bitumen properties (west coast
after a hot film oven test and east on natural material) and the
other countries are generally looking at the issue with perhaps a
feeling that grading of bitumen will swing to viscosity measure -
ment in the future.

(g) Granites are quite commonly used as ocrushed rock and in asphalt
plants, though they have a tendency to polish under heavy traffic.
(
6. QUALITY CONTROL

(a) Most countries have similar set up to the Country Roads Board,
i.e. laboratories at plant with a Clerk of Works or Technician to
do testing. Also a Clerk of Works is usually at weighbridge to
check weights of asphalt delivered.

(b) We can expect an introduction of screenless type mixing plant in

the future. Quality control is concentrated on aggregate stock-
piles and proportioning of components onto the belt.

(c) Considerable use is being made of hot storage or surge bins

(usually of 100 ton capacity) as an equalizer of asphalt supply
during the day and should lead to smoother job supply of asphalt.
Very little overnight storage carried out . One contractor claimed
the use of hot storage bins allowed him to reduce the number of
trucks per paving unit from 10 to 8. Design of bin is important
to prevent segregation and packing of the asphalt. Some hardening
of asphalt has been reported. Some contractors are giving thought
to setting up hot storage bins at the construction site and
filling during periods of low traffic flow, such as at night, to
increase job efficiency.

(d) Most asphalt plants overseas are automatic, the degree of automa-
tion depending on age and size of plant. A lot of plants are
portable and set up near the job and the aggregates brought from
other sources and stockpiled at the same site. Majority are batch
type plants though continuous mix plants are used on some larger
jobs.

(e) Pollution is a hot subject, particularly in Canada and USA . To

meet present controls, a baghouse costing $125,000 to $150,000 is
the only really effective method of dust control. Thi s will put
some smaller plants out of busines s and means that in s ome areas
large r plants are being built to get a more economic unit •

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7. CONSTRUCTION

(a) Finish of work was seldom better than that achieved in Australia.
Pavers laid up to 50 ft/min as against 18 to 30 ft/min in Australia
and this would adversely influence fini s h. Paver speed should be
matched with production of as pha lt from the plant to ensure almost
continuous operation of the paver . Stop-start conditions with a
paver lead to a rough surfac e fini sh .

(b) They seem to have problems in getting compaction of asphalt in

s ome areas of USA and Canada on the thinner lift asphalt, however
I noted that the roller s were a long way behind the pavers on a
number of jobs visited . No trouble with compaction in UK, though
specification control and te s ting is virtually non-existent, as
their BS 594 hot rolled asphalt seems particularly easy to compact.

(c) Pavers and rollers are similar to those in Australia. A number of

Contractors and Highway Authoritie s' are interested in using
fairly large vibrating rollers . Wider 24ft pavers are not favoured
( at this stage as contractors consider that they can achieve the
same with two 12ft pave rs in echelon while maintaining greater
versatility.

(d) At l e ast three layers of asphalt are considered necessary in a full

depth asphalt pavement to get satisfactory surface profile.

(e) Truck capacities are us ually of the 23 ton payload capacity over-
seas and may be end dumping with e levator along floor of trailer,
or bottom dump trucks. There are also a number of truck-trailer
combinations, with say 16 ton payload on' truck and 15 tons payload
on trailer. It must be remember e d that larger truck capacities
can lead to problems of fail ing poor subgrades during construction.

(f) Considerable attention is giv en to pavement and subgrade drainage

even in some semi - desert area s with annual rainfalls of 8 to 10
inches.

( 8. CONCLUSION

Deep str ength and full depth asphalt pavements have been constructed
successfully in many parts of the world, some pavements being in
service since 1947 . Con s truction techniques need to be modified when
using deep lift construction .

This paper has been prepared a nd i s pre sente d with the permission of
Mr R.E.V . Donaldson, A. A.S . A. (Senior), A.I . M.A., F.C.I.T., J.P.,
Chairman of the Country Road s Board, Victoria.

REFERENCES :
1. Hveem F. M. - Asphalt pavement s from the ancient east to the modern
wes t.

2. Kamel I . N., J.Morris, Prof . R. C. G.Haas, W.Phang - Larger analysis

of th e Brampton Test Road and application to pavement design (Jan 73) .
3. J.D . Bethune - Report on Ov e r se a s Study Tour in 1972 - The design and
construction of full depth and deep strength asphalt pavements.