In pavement construction and maintenance, stabilised gravel is often used in upper and lower base courses. The mix has the intrinsic properties of the binder (hot or cold, bituminous or hydraulic) used to coat the aggregates. To ensure durability, the mechanical performance of the material must be sufficient to provide proper structural support and prevent cracking. Building on its innovation capabilities, Eurovia has designed a product that meets these requirements and even more.

1. GRAVEL STABILISED WITH FOAMED BITUMEN
GRAVE MOUSSE
Combining reliability
and durability

2. key
benefits
Low heat sensitivity
Very good rutting resistance
Excellent workability
Enhanced environmental protection
Proven qualities and durability
key
figures
In pavement construction and maintenance, stabilised gravel is often used in upper and lower
base courses. The mix has the intrinsic properties of the binder (hot or cold, bituminous or
hydraulic) used to coat the aggregates.
To ensure durability, the mechanical performance of the material must be sufficient to provide
proper structural support and prevent cracking. Building on its innovation capabilities, Eurovia
has designed a product that meets these requirements and even more.
GRAVE MOUSSE
GRAVEL STABILISED WITH FOAMED BITUMEN
Grave mousse
was tested under the
Road Innovation
Charter and certified
in September 2003
Tested on the LCPC fatigue test
facility in Nantes, Grave mousse
withstood the equivalent of
15 years of T1 traffic
(500 trucks/day)

3. combination
of AdVANTAGES
Grave mousse meets the pavement rehabilitation
requirements of a wide variety of project managers
seeking simple, efficient and cost-effective
techniques for reinforcing, overlaying, re-profiling
and recalibrating pavements. It is also used in new
pavement upper and lower base courses.
Eurovia’s Grave Mousse combines numerous
advantages:
rapidly re-trafficked, as soon as the surface
sealing has been applied, without prior curing. The
application of the final surface course is scheduled
at least a week later.
workable: makes highly flexible work scheduling
possible.
storable and usable for several days following
production: with the appropriate aggregates,
Grave mousse can be stored for a month or more;
only stirring and water content adjustment are then
needed to restore optimum laying conditions.
environmentally-friendly due to its potential
for incorporating Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement
(RAP) and above all its cold production and laying
conditions.
easy
application
The foam is produced by special equipment
mounted on a platform holding all the dosing and
monitoring tools. It is then sprayed on the materials
to be treated. Lime is included in the mix to render
the gravel hydrophobic and in some cases an
adhesion agent is also added.
The platform, designed by Eurovia, is very compact
and mobile. It can be transported by a single
tractor-trailer and easily adapted to any type of
cold mixing plant.
A tack coat must be spread before Grave mousse
is laid and a seal coat is then applied pending
application of the final surface course.
an INNOVAtive
HIGH-PERFORMANCE MATERIAL

4. Grave mousse is a 0/10 to 0/20 mm graded base course
material made by coating unheated aggregate with
foamed hot bitumen.
Foamed bitumen is made by injecting a very small
quantity of water containing a foaming agent into a
selected hot bitumen. The water evaporates instantly,
generating a foam that is immediately mixed with a
blended or unblended aggregate at a bitumen dosing of
between 3.3 and 4%.
In reinforcement and new construction, Grave Mousse
is applied in a thickness of 70 to 150 mm. Thinner layers
are applied for purposes of pavement reprofiling and
reshaping.
Grave Mousse is also used in the Tricouche pavement
structure, in which it can form the core of the composite
structure.
Excellent results were obtained with sub-normal and
recycled materials such as crushed alluvial aggregates,
RAP and recycled cement concrete. The same is true of
incinerator bottom ashes.
Grave Mousse offers low heat sensitivity and excellent
rutting resistance.
All materials routinely employed in base courses can
be used to produce Grave Mousse, subject to a prior
laboratory study.
PROven
EFFectiveness
Rutting resistance
Rutting depth measured according to the
EN 12697-22 standard at 60°C
and 30,000 cycles 2 %
Rutting depth measured after 4.3 million
13-tonne equivalent axle passes 12 mm
The latter result was measured at the LCPC fatigue
test facility in Nantes on a 100 mm layer of Grave
mousse overlaid with a microsurfacing.
TECHNICAL DEPARTMENT
18, place de l’Europe - 92565 Rueil-Malmaison cedex
Tel. : 33 (0)1 47 16 38 00 - Fax : 33 (0)1 47 16 38 01
www.eurovia.com
technique@eurovia.com
-February2014-photoscredit:photolibraryEurovia