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Civil Engineering & Construction vocabulary · Roads and Bridges

Asphalt

Meaning in civil engineering & construction, with examples

/ˈæsfɔːlt/nounCommon term

In civil engineering & construction, asphalt means: A black road-surfacing material made of stone aggregate bound with bitumen. It is laid hot and compacted with rollers.

In Turkish: asfalt, bitümlü sıcak karışım

How it is used

Asphalt is laid, rolled and tested for thickness and density. The asphalt layers of a road are the base course, the binder course and the surface or wearing course. Informally people say tarmac in the UK and blacktop in the US.

Example sentences

  1. We can't lay asphalt today; it's raining and the base is wet.

  2. The asphalt wearing course is 50 mm thick.

Common collocations

  • lay asphalt
  • asphalt paver
  • hot-mix asphalt
  • asphalt layer
  • wearing course
  • pavementThe layered structure of a road, runway or parking area that carries the traffic, usually asphalt or concrete laid over granular base layers.
  • aggregateSand, gravel or crushed stone that is mixed with cement and water to make concrete. It makes up most of the volume of concrete and of road layers.
  • subgradeThe natural or prepared soil at the bottom of a road, on which all the pavement layers are built. Its strength largely decides how thick the pavement must be.
  • compactionPressing soil or fill together, usually with rollers or plate compactors, to remove air, make it denser and stronger, and reduce later settlement.

More terms: Roads and Bridges

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