In many countries sprayed surfacing seals are widely used to provide a durable, all weather pavement surfacings. However, most current sprayed seal design methods are empirical, based on historic environmental, and material characteristics, and volumetric based assessment of bitumen binder application. With the changes in global oil sources, weather patterns and traffic loading, a need was identified to re-examine the fundamental methods with which road surfacing seals are designed. Research has been undertaken in to the feasibility of using the latest available modelling tools towards developing a mechanistic design approach to model the seal materials, wheel loading and pavement support structure in terms of their fundamental material characteristics. The paper is be based on research undertaken by Milne (University of Stellenbosch) for his PhD, supported by Huurman (TU Delft) and promoters Jenkins (University of Stellenbosch) and van de Ven (TUDelft) which will include examination in to the feasibility of a mechanistic seal design method, and will also illustrate the successes obtained towards modelling sprayed seals binders under different loading and environmental conditions. (a).
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