Rigid pavement design with recycled concrete aggregate for low volume roads

Abstract

The aim of this project is to determine the strength characteristic of recycled aggregates that can be used as an alternative material for rigid pavement construction. The main consideration of any pavement design is to provide structural alternatives that are feasible both technically and economically. This can be achieved by specifying pavement layer thickness with proper types of materials based on the extent traffic, environmental conditions and life cycle cost analysis. Since traffic is regarded as the key design parameter, traffic analysis was done for seventeen provincial roads. That analysis was carried out to find vehicle composition, magnitude of the axle loads, axle configuration and frequency of load repetitions. An experimental campaign was implemented in order to monitor the recycled aggregate properties before utilizing them as a rigid pavement construction material. Properties of recycled aggregate were determined in terms of (i) particle size distribution (ii) particle density (iii) porosity and absorption (IV) particle shape (v) strength and toughness. Then the development of concrete mix design was done. In this study, various physical and mechanical properties of concretes were examined. The concrete properties were determined by doing the workability test, compressive test, flexural strength and modulus of elasticity test. Then suitable thicknesses for provincial roads were proposed based on the traffic volume and the recycled aggregate concrete properties.