Effects of Banana Fibers on Mechanical Characteristics of Stone Mastic Asphalt

The pavement industry faces challenges due to global warming and population growth, causing frequent rutting and fatigue cracking in the pavements. To combat these pressing issues, Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) can be a viable solution for heavy-traffic-prone road networks. However, polymer-modified asphalt binders and natural or synthetic fibers are typically required to prevent draindown because of their high binder content. Meanwhile, a huge amount of Banana fibers is disposed of in the form of waste generated by Banana cultivation, posing environmental challenges. Therefore, this research article investigates the effects of adding banana fibers to Stone Mastic Asphalt for sustainable and environmentally friendly road construction by utilizing agricultural waste. During the Modification of SMA Banana fibers at a fiber content of: 0.2%, 0.3%, and 0.4% with fiber lengths of 20mm, 25mm, and 30mm were examined based on draindown experiments, in which 0.3% was found to be optimum fiber content. The mechanical properties of banana fiber-modified stone mastic asphalt (BFM-SMA) prepared at optimum fiber content were compared to the conventional SMA using the Marshall Stability and Cantabro loss test. It has been discovered that the increased fiber length improves the mechanical characteristics of the BFM-SMA, as the modified SMA with banana fibers of 30mm length shows the best results, which strongly suggests that this approach could effectively address road problems.