Flexural behaviour of lightly cement stabilised materials: South Africa and Brazil

This paper focuses on the flexural behaviour of lightly cement stabilised materials. An experimental programme was developed to analyse the effects of compaction method, test setup and displacement rate on the static behaviour, to characterise the laboratory fatigue behaviour of South African materials and to compare South African and Brazilian materials. Similar flexural properties were achieved using vibration and compression compaction methods. The South African setup leads to lower strength and stiffness values, but to a better prediction of the field modulus. The static properties are not affected by the displacement rate. The strain at break is not affected by any tested variable, being the most meaningful property for design. Strain-based models provide a better fatigue life prediction than the stress-based models. Laboratory models lead to a fatigue life shorter than the South African field transfer functions. Similarities were observed between South African and Brazilian materials, which suggests comparable fatigue performances.