Optimal Paste Volume Method: An Alternative Mixture Proportioning Method for Roller Compacted Concrete Pavement

Roller Compacted Concrete Pavements (RCCP) are mostly designed by soil-compaction technique. However, the shortcomings associated with the soil-compaction method warrant a scientific way of designing RCCP mixtures based on the paste volume requirements considering the compactness and morphology of aggregates. To evaluate the optimum binder ratio (ratio of paste volume to the volume of void) for RCCP, several mixes were prepared following the particle packing approach by varying the binder ratio at a constant water-cement ratio (0.42). Fresh density, consistency, compactability, hardened density, and compressive strength were considered for binder ratio optimization. It was observed that there exists a linear relationship between the binder ratio and hardened properties up to a ratio of one; post this, a significant decrease in the considered hardened properties was observed. The results indicate that the RCCP mixtures could achieve higher strength and good workability with a binder ratio of 1.