Stiffness modulus and creep properties of the coconut shell in an asphalt mixture

Abstract

Coconut shell (CS) is an agricultural waste engineered into a road construction material. This study was conducted to evaluate the stiffness modulus and dynamic creep properties of the asphaltic concrete containing CS as an aggregate replacement. A mixture design incorporating the bitumen penetration grade 60/70 was used to produce specimens for testing. Four CS replacements namely 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% by weight volumes were used. The asphaltic concrete performances were characterized by stiffness modulus, dynamic creep and the correlation between the strain and the loading time. Test results revealed that using CSs as aggregate replacements in the asphaltic concrete help increase the resiliant modulus and creep stiffness at approximately 15%. Therefore, the incorporation of CS exhibits considerable potential as road construction material.

Keywords: asphalt mixture; coconut shell; creep modulus; stiffness modulus; properties