Road base course water absorption

[22222222]

Hi all,

Looking for any manual or standards dealing with recommended or required water absorption (min/max)for crushed stone for road base course for wedging method. Any numbers or values will be highly appreciated.

thanks

 

[Ron]

The standards related to moisture or water in base courses have to do with the amount of moisture at the time of compaction, to achieve appropriate compaction and stability.

The absorption is related to an aggregate property and will vary depending on your region, the aggregate source, and the gradation of the material.

In general, we do not want water to be in the base course, other than the moisture necessary for compaction at the time of placement. It only takes a few percent by weight of moisture beyond the optimum moisture determined through moisture-density relationship testing to achieve saturation, which is to be avoided in base materials because of the inherent loss of stability that can be related to saturation.

For wedging, the gradation is important since you'll be placing a variable thickness of base material. The maximum aggregate particle size in the base material should be no more than about 1/3 of the minimum expected thickness of the material after compaction. "Feathering" wedging courses is not a good idea. It is better to overexcavate and install thicker base sections.

 

[22222222]

Ron,

Thanks for the answer. I will try to keep the proposed moisture content of crushed stone within +- 2% of OMC.
I hope client will accept it. For wedging we use fraction 40-80,20-40 and 5-10mm.