Mechanical behaviour of hydrated cement treated crushed rock base (HCTCRB)

Hydrated cement treated crushed rock (HCTCRB) is widely used as a base course material for Western Australian roads. In order to be able to use this material effectively, its shear strength, resilient modulus and permanent deformation characteristics should be investigated and understood. This study aimed to present the results of the laboratory testing which was carried out to assess the mechanical characteristics of HCTCRB. Our findings show that HCTCRB can be characterized as cohesive granular material which has the cohesion (c) of 177 kPa and the internal friction angle (φ) of 42°. The resilient modulus characteristics can be modelled by using the K-θ model proposed by Hick and Monosmith (1971) as M_r=6.317θ^0.628 where M_r= the resilient modulus in MPa and θ= the bulk stress =σ₁+σ₂+σ₃ and the permanent deformation characteristics can be modelled by using the Sweere, G.T.H’s model from SMARIS (2004) as ε^p=573.22N^0.074 where ε^p = permanent deformation in Micrometres and N = the number of loading cycles. These equations are based on the test results following the Austroads – APRG 00/33 test standard (Voung & Brimble, 2000).