ABSTRACT
The bond between the binder and aggregates fails severely generally in presence of water and the aggregates predominantly are hydrophilic. In the present research work, dense bituminous mix of Grade-II (MoRTH) was selected and experimented with six different range of combined index of aggregates varied between <35% to 60%, three gradations; upper, middle and lower and optimum binder content of 5.2%, 5.4% and 5.6%. Cement was the antistripping agent. It was observed that air voids of the prepared specimens were varied from 6% to 8%. Increased air voids associated with increased combined index of aggregates, above 45% subjected to severe moisture damage than at the lower air voids with controlled combined index of the aggregates. The tensile strength ratio was above 80%, but reduced to 0.6% as the combined index of aggregates was above 50%.
