EFFECT OF USING BANANA FIBRE AND ZEOLITE AS AN ADDITIVE ON THE ENGINEERING PROPERTIES OF BITUMINOUS CONCRETE

Generally, bitumen mix comprises of coarse aggregate, fine aggregate, filler and binder material but in order to improve the engineering properties of the mix, the need for the suitable material arises which enhance the properties of the mix. The main motive of this study is to enhance the engineering properties by using banana fibre and zeolite in the bitumen mix against the normal mix. The banana fibre and zeolite is added in the mix at different percentages to find the effect in the bitumen mix by laboratory tests in which stability and flow parameter is analysed. The content of binder ranges from 4% to 6 % with an increment of .5 % and the Optimum Binder Content for bitumen mix were found to be 5%. The percentage of both banana fibre and zeolite ranges from 0.05% to 0.3% with an increment of 0.05%. The use of banana fibre and zeolite proves economical and environmentally friendly as the use of banana fibre improves the stability of the mix and zeolite helps in lowering the mixing and compacting temperatures which ensure highly useful especially for heavy traffic roads and multi-axle loads as the size of the heavy load vehicles are also increased. Marshall Test is carried out in this study.