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Using Unbound Pavement Layers

Published Saturday, May 01, 2004

Aggregate Base Course is often called an unbound pavement layer or granular base to distinguished it from layers bound with asphalt (flexible pavement) or cement (rigid pavement). Deep, unbound aggregate layers are extraordinarily strong when properly compacted and confined. In fact, some of NASA's heaviest rockets and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse were moved over ABC layers. Bound layers such as Hot Mix Asphalt and Portland Cement Concrete have cohesion and tensile strength in the top layers to resist the forces from traffic. Unbound layers, on the other hand, can be pulled apart if put under substantial tensile forces.

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