Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering

°Cd
International Journal of
Pavement Research and Technology
Journal homepage: www.springer.com/42947

General applications of the semi-rigid pavement in South East Asia

Yanli Zhang*, Dong Qing Wu
Chemilink Technologies Group, Singapore

Received 3 May 2019; received in revised form 2 February 2020; accepted 3 February 2020; available online 19 February 2020

Abstract

The Semi Rigid Pavement (SRP) is an alternative solution to overcome the limitations caused by conventional pavements, i.e. Flexible (asphalt
concrete) and Rigid (cement concrete) pavements, which consists both the flexibility from asphalt component and the rigidity from cement constituent. The
Semi Rigid Pavement has already become more and more popular for years internationally as a surface layer of those pavements under se rious conditions
such as road junctions, airport aprons, bus depots and heavy loading yards. In this paper, the fundamental propert ies and general technical requirements of
SRP, including its two main components of the porous asphalt concrete and the grouting material, were introduced after a brie fing on SRP development
history. The advantages and benefits of SRP were deduced and discussed together with the comparisons among the flexible pavement, rigid pavement and
SRP. The application/construction procedure of SRP was introduced step by step. The selected typical pavement projects constr ucted with this SRP system
were presented and some studies on special cases when SRP was laid on the top of concrete surface and on the weaker base were also conducted. Lastly, the
durability of SRP has been reviewed.

Keywords: Semi-rigid pavement (SRP); Rigid and flexible pavements; General applications; Porous asphalt concrete; High-performance cementitious
grouting material; Durability

1. Introduction combination of the both flexible (asphalt) and rigid (concrete)

pavements with good flexible properties from asphalt concrete and
1.1. Development of semi-rigid pavement long durability from concrete. It is produced from an impregnation
of high strength but with high fluidity cementitious grouting
Asphalt concrete (flexible) and cement concrete (rigid) material through a porous asphalt skeleton under the influence of
pavements are the most commonly used pavements worldwide and gravitational force. Table 1 shows the comparison of three kinds
have been used for a variety of applications including road, of pavements, flexible asphalt concrete pavement (ACP), rigid
highway, bridge deck top layer and pavements in airports as well cement concrete pavement (CCP) and semi-rigid pavement (SRP).
as other areas with heavy wheel loads. Asphalt concrete pavement It can be found from Table 1 that SRP combines all advantages
has short curing period, good point load carrying capacity, high from both flexible and rigid pavements.
skid resistance, and ease of maintenance and repair, but it has some The use of the grout filled asphalt pavement was in vogue from
important disadvantages such as surface deterioration and rutting 1950’s, however under different names such as salviacim,
due to repeat concentrated loads and temperature changes. betophalt, densiphalt, grouted porous asphalt, combi-layers [1],
Concrete pavements are highly resistant to traffic load, have a resin modified pavement [2], cement grouted asphalt concrete,
higher bearing capacity, offer long term durability and resist semi-rigid pavement, semi-flexible pavement and grouted
fatigue and deformation, but have slow setting time during macadam [3,4] and etc. It was first developed in France and
construction phase and poor riding quality (noise) mainly caused applied to Cognac Airport runway in 1954 as a cost effective and
by the joints; which result some limitations in applications to heat resistant pavement. In Asia, Japan started to develop SRP in
concrete pavements. An alternative solution to overcome the 1961 and applied 1,000 m2 as a trial pavement in 1962. In early
limitations and to improve the performance of both flexible and 1970s, United Kingdom, USA, Russia etc. started to study this
rigid pavements is the semi- rigid pavement (SRP), which is a kind of pavement [5]. By 1990, SRP system has been widely used
throughout Europe, United Kingdom, United States, Africa and
Asia for roads, airfields, sea ports and industrial floorings [5,6]. In
* Corresponding author Korea, SRP has been studied since 2001 [7]. SRP has been widely
E-mail address: yanli_zhang@chemilink.com (Y. Zhang). used in Singapore and Malaysia since 2000s for road junctions,
Peer review under responsibility of Chinese Society of Pavement airport parking aprons, ports and bus depots [8-12].
Engineering.

ISSN: 1997-1400 DOI: https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s42947-020-0114-1

Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering. Production and hosting by Springer Nature
 Y. Zhang and D. Q. Wu / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 13 (2020) 296-302 297

it normally contains 25-30% of inter-connected voids (by volume,

Table 1
Marshall mixed design). Typically, the design of PAC includes the
Comparison among asphalt concrete pavement (ACP), cement
selection of aggregate gradation, determination of bitumen content
concrete pavement (CCP) and semi-rigid pavement (SRP).
with recommendation of polymer modified bitumen [13,14] (such
Properties ACP CCP SRP as PG76 or equivalent), mixing and compaction procedures. The
Resistance to ˅ ˅ main sub-components of PAC are shown in Table 2 [15].
rutting/deformation In order to design the porosity of the PAC, it is important that the
High skid resistance ˅ ˅ usages of coarse and fine aggregates should satisfy the grading
Resistance to petroleum ˅ ˅ requirements of the specification as shown in Table 3. The coarse
products, oil and chemical aggregates inside PAC should be clean, angular, crushed granite
Resistance to moisture ˅ ˅ stone and free from dust, dirt and other deleterious materials. The
damage properties of the coarse aggregates must conform to the
Easy maintenance and ˅ ˅ requirements shown in Table 4. Examples of the particle size
repair distribution of aggregate and coarse aggregate properties used in
Long life span ˅ ˅ this paper are also shown in Table 3 and Table 4 respectively.
High flexural strength ˅ ˅ The test method in Table 4 seems very old (in 1974, 1975 and
No expansion joints ˅ ˅ 1985), but the test methods are still specified by the Road
required Authority, and thus we have no choice but to follow till the new
Installation and open to Within 0.5~3.0 Within 10-12 ones are specified by the Road Authority.
traffic hours months hours
Low construction and ˅ ˅ 2.2. High performance polymer modified cementitious grouting
maintenance costs material

1.2. Description of semi-rigid pavement (SRP) The high-performance polymer modified cementitious grouting
material shall consist of a dense packing of inorganic materials
SRP is a composite pavement, in which a special formulated which shall be mixed with water to form a free-flowing “cement
high-performance polymer modified cementitious grouting milk” with high internal cohesion. The most important properties
material is filled into the porous asphalt concrete (PAC) skeleton of this grouting material are the fluidity and compressive strength,
which contains 25-30% air void (by volume of Marshall mix which can be, for example, adjusted with water/powder ratio.
design). So, the most significant characteristics of SRP are its Table 2
ability to combine the ductility of asphalt and the stiffness and Components of PAC.
strengths of concrete to provide excellent running performances
and durability, easy maintenance and repair, fast installation and Components % by weight
good skid resistance, and etc. Coarse aggregates 92.9%
The thickness of SRP as wear and tear surface layer is commonly Fine aggregates 3.0%
50 mm for road junction, 100 mm for bus depot/terminal or airfield Polymer modified bitumen 3.6% - 4.6%
parking apron (50 mm per layer x 2 layers), 150 mm for airport (PG76 was used in this paper)
taxiway turning sections or other special pavements (75 mm per
Table 3
layer x 2 layers).
Particle size distribution of aggregate.
2. Component materials of SRP Sieve size Percentage passing (%) An example used for
(mm) Min Max this paper
The component materials of SRP are the porous asphalt concrete 19 100 100 100
(PAC) and the high-performance polymer modified cementitious 13.2 85 100 90.2
grouting material. 9.5 27 53 29
6.3 1 15 5
2.1. Porous asphalt concrete (PAC) 2.36 1 10 3
0.6 0 8 2
The porous asphalt concrete (PAC) is also called as the open 0.3 0 5 1
graded asphalt concrete. One of the main properties of PAC is that 0.075 0 3 0

Table 4
Coarse aggregate properties.
Property Requirement Testing method An example used for this paper
Impact Value ≤ 25% BS 812 part 112:1985 24.2%
Crushing Value ≤ 25% BS 812 part 110:1985 23.0%
Water Absorption ≤ 1% BS 812 part 2:1975 0.1%
Flakiness index ≤ 25% BS 812 part 105.1:1985 4.7%
Elongation Index ≤ 30% BS 812 part 105.2:1985 20.1%
L. A. Abrasion
(500 revolutions) ≤ 20% SS 73:1974 18.4%
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The properties and requirements of the grouting material are (b)

shown in table 5.
(a)
Fluidity (flow time by flow cone method) and compressive
strength at different water/powder (W/P) ratios are shown in Fig.
1 and Fig. 2 respectively, where the different grouting materials
may have different fluidity and compressive strength, and
Chemilink SS-141 grouting material which has been proven for
past more than 10 years was selected as the example in this paper.
The water/powder ratios of 0.28~0.30 were chosen with the
grouting material in SRP and the cored samples are shown in Fig. Fig. 3. The cored SRP samples (a) W/P: 0.28, Fluidity: 18 sec,
3. thickness: 80 mm, (b) W/P: 0.30, Fluidity: 13sec, thickness: 100
From Fig. 3 it can be found that the grouting material with mm.
water/powder ratio of 0.28 and 0.30 can properly penetrate into
porous asphalt concrete up to 80 mm and 100 mm respectively,
Table 5 and Fig. 2 shows that 1-day and 28-day compressive strength of
Properties and requirements of the grouting material. the grouting material at water/powder ratio of 0.28 ~ 0.30 are
above 55 MPa and 110 MPa respectively. Therefore 0.28 ~ 0.30 as
Properties Curing General Material
the appropriate water/powder ratio were selected for mixing of the
time requirements example
grouting material (Chemilink SS-141) used in this paper.
(SS-141)
The components of high performance polymer modified
Fluidity - 10-18 Second 10-18
cementitious grouting material used in this paper are: OPC
(ASTMC939) second
(57.5%), Fly Ash (12%), Quartz Powder (10%), Slag (17.5%),
Compressive 12 hours - 20-30 MPa
Water Reduce Agent (0.75%) and Polymers & Other Additives
Strength 1 day ≥40 MPa 40-60 MPa
(2.25%). High dosage of special water reduce agent was used so
(BS EN 12390-3) 7 days - 70-90 MPa
that the water/powder ratio is as low as 0.28~0.30.
28 days ≥90 MPa 90-130 MPa
Flexural Strength 28 days 6-8 MPa 6-10 MPa
(BS EN 12390-5) 3. Semi rigid pavement (SPR)
Setting Time - 4-8 hours 4-8 hours
(EN 196-3) 3.1. Properties of SRP

The typical properties of SRP after combination of Porous

70
Asphalt Concrete (PAC) and high-performance cementitious
60 grouting material (Chemilink SS-141 as the grouting material) are
Fluidity (Seconds)

shown in Table 6.
50
40 3.2. Installation procedure of SRP

30 Since SRP is the composite pavement of PAC and the grouting

20 material, the installation procedure shall be divided into two major
procedures including (1) laying of PAC and (2) flood filling
10 grouting material into PAC.
0.200.210.220.230.240.250.260.270.280.290.300.310.32 Before laying PAC shown in Fig. 4, we prepare some PAC
W/P Ratio samples (e.g. 1 m x 1 m x 50 mm) in sealed metal frames to test
the porosity using water.
Fig. 1. Fluidity of the grouting material at different water/powder The PAC is laid with conventional asphalt paver and is rolled
(W/P) ratios. using smooth roller without vibration. The mixing temperature of
asphalt concrete shall be approximately 165°C to 180°C and
temperature at laying shall be around 120°C to 130°C.
150 The weight of compactor and compaction times as
Compressive Strength

130 Curing predetermined need to be controlled to ensure 25% to 30% air void
28 day of PAC.
110 When surface temperature of PAC drops below 60°C, the flood
7 day
(MPa)

filling the grouting material mixed with water into the PAC layer
90 may start. The detailed steps are shown in Fig. 5. When mixing
grouting material with water, the high speed mixer is
70
recommended so as to obtain smooth flowing grout.
50 1 day Mixing of the grouting material with water shall be carried out
0.200.210.220.230.240.250.260.270.280.290.30 in a continuous flow mixer-pump system which shall be capable
of ensuring a continuous process of mixing and producing a
W/P Ratio
continuous and even supply of homogeneous and lump-free grout.
Fig. 2. Compressive strength of the grouting material at different Average filling quantity of grouting material into PAC per 20 m2
W/P ratio & curing age. and per whole area can be used to confirm the porosity of PAC.
 Y. Zhang and D. Q. Wu / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 13 (2020) 296-302 299

Table 6
Properties of SRP with SS-141 as grouting material.
Properties Curing age Semi rigid Code of practice for Project tender- Project tender-
pavement works [13] 1 document 2 document
Compressive strength (EN 12190) 12hrs 3-5MPa --- --- ---
1day 6-8MPa --- --- ≥5 MPa
7days 9-12.0MPa --- --- ---
28days 10-14.5MPa 7-10MPa ≥7MPa ≥8MPa
Flexural strength (BS EN 12190) 28days 6-7MPa ≥3.5MPa ≥3MPa ≥3.5MPa
Texture depth by the sand patch method --- 0.5-1.2 mm 0.5-1.2 mm --- ---
(BS 598: Part 105: 1990)
Skid resistance (ASTM E303) --- 60-90BPN --- ≥60BPN ≥55 BPN
Curing time --- 4-8hrs --- 4-8hrs ---

(a) (a)

(b) (b)

(c) (c)

(d) (d)
Fig. 4. Laying of PAC (a) Milling of existing AC (if applicable), Fig. 5. Flood filling grouting material into PAC (a) Mixing
(b) Spraying primer coat, (c) Laying PAC to designed thickness, grouting material with water, (b) filling grouting material into
and (d) PAC surface after compaction. PAC, (c) spreading, and (d) wet surface of SPR after filling.

4. Case study for typical applications of SRP

5. SRP used on top of rigid pavement and on weaker base
Since 2000s, SRP has been popularly used in civil infrastructure
projects in Singapore and Malaysia for: SRP can be also used on the top of various rigid concrete
1. Airport parking aprons and taxiway junctions or turning pavements as a wearing course for easy maintenance and repair of
sections. such rigid pavements. Fig. 10 shows a common application of SRP
2. Heavy traffic roads and junctions. directly sitting on the concrete surface, where SRP was
3. Bus depots, terminals and stops. continuously applied on the top of the concrete and then SRP was
Some typical examples for different applications are selected as cut exactly following the construction joins of the concrete after
shown in Figs. 6-9, where the thickness of SRP, application year SRP gained some strength (preferably after 12 hours from the
and other important notes are highlighted in the figures as the setting). The suitable sealant will be applied into the join of both
references. SRP and concrete.
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(a)

Fig. 6. Singapore Changi Airport parking aprons (50 mm, 2007, 1st
trial in this airport).

(b)

(a)

(c)
(b)
Fig. 9. Heavy traffic city roads and junctions (a) East end junction
of Nicoll Highways (2017), (b) South Buona Vista Road (2011),
(c) Sungei Kadut St.1 (2010).

(c)

Fig. 7. Improvement and resurfacing works on parallel and runway

entry taxiways at Changi Airport (150 mm, 75 mm/layer x 2 layers,
2010) (a) Laying PAC, (b) Grouting in progress, (c) A cored
sample, 75 mm / layer.

Fig. 10. General SRP structure on top of concrete pavements

(thickness: 50 mm) (Ulu Pandan Bus Depot, Phase-1, 2016).

In some special cases, such as the water proofing membrane over

the concrete slab at higher floors rather than the normal ground,
(a) SRP layer has to be formed directly on the membrane and no
construction join will be cut in order to protect such membrane for
waterproofing purposes (Fig. 11). Hairline cracks may happen
around the joins of the membrane sheets but generally no serious
cracks occur for most areas.
In case of weaker road base, the in-situ rehabilitation of the
existing base material (commonly crashed stone) is recommended
to quickly strengthen the base course within a short time, and then
(b) to set the SRP layer as a wearing course. For example, Chemilink
SS-108 rehabilitation/stabilization was commonly used to
Fig. 8. Parking apron and oil handling platform of Malaysia Kuala strengthen the base material (300 mm thick) first before SRP (50
Lumpur Int. Airport II (a) Laying grouting material and (b) mm thick) was constructed (Fig. 12), where SS-108 functions as
Completion of SRP (75 mm/layer). an in-situ rehabilitation agent to strengthen base course.
 Y. Zhang and D. Q. Wu / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 13 (2020) 296-302 301

(a)

Fig. 11. SRP on the roof concrete slabs of the building with water
proofing membrane (Bus Depot of Tuas West MRT station, 50
mm/layer x 2 layers, 2015).
(b)
(a)

(c)
(b)
Fig.13. 12-year SRP performance in a Singapore asphalt concrete
plant (a) 2005, (b) 2007, (c) 2017.

AYE

(c)

(a)

Fig. 12. A Malaysia city road junction on weaker base (In-situ

rehabilitation + SRP) (a) Rehabilitated base, (b) Completion of
grout filling, (c) Immediate opening to public.
(b)
6. Durability of SRP
AYE
In 2005, SRP was constructed as the wearing course in a heavy
load parking area in Singapore. Twelve (12) years later, this SRP
layer has performed well and in good conditions, though this SRP
layer has been under heavy dead loads and serious oily attacks
(Fig. 13).
In 2011, SRP was used as the wearing course for several traffic
(c)
junctions at South Buona Vista Road entering to AYE
Fig.14. 6-year SRP performance at entrance junctions to AYE
Expressway, Singapore. Six (6) years later, all junctions were still
Expressway, Singapore (a) 2011, (b) 2015, (c) 2017.
in good operational conditions under heavy traffic and there were
no defects on SRP surface can be found too (Fig. 14).
For durability of SRP, we can only show some photos to show Our technical team has been studying for many years to develop
that the road surfaces are still in good condition after many years such SRP system. Some special components were added in
of service because Land Authority or project owners do not allow grouting material, such as quartz powder, shrinkage reduce agent,
us to do any tests such as rut depth, skid resistance, texture depth, UV resistance powder, plasticizer, etc., and special polymer
etc. on such heavy operational roads after opening to traffic. additives in bitumen, so that the SRP performs so well in high
302 Y. Zhang and D. Q. Wu / International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology 13 (2020) 296-302

temperature, high humidity conditions of South east Asia. We have Proc. Eastern Asia Society for Transp. Studies, Kuala
been conducting continuous improvement after each project to Lumpur, Malaysia, Vol.7, 2009.
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Steensma, Improved Performance Grouted Macadams –
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