Simple Procedure to Assess Performance and Cost Benefits of Using Recycled Materials in Pavement Construction
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20, Issue 11
Abstract
The use of recycled materials in pavement engineering has a great potential to benefit our society in terms of reducing demands on natural pavement materials, reducing environmental problems, and conserving energy. However, pavement design/construction practitioners often hesitate to use recycled materials due to the lack of cost benefit and performance information. This paper presents a simple approach to evaluate economic effects of using recycled materials in pavement construction based on in situ pavement testing procedures. These testing procedures, including dynamic cone penetrometer, California bearing ratio, Dynaflect, and falling weight defelectometer, are commonly employed by state highway agencies. A full-scale accelerated pavement test section was built to investigate the performance of different base course materials: Louisiana Class II crushed limestone, foamed-asphalt-treated recycled asphalt concrete, fly-ash-stabilized blended calcium sulfate (BCS), and BCS stabilized with the 120 grade ground granulated blast furnace-slag (GGBFS). Among these base materials, GGBFS-stabilized BCS was found to have the highest strength and stiffness. On the basis of these field testing results, life-cycle cost analyses showed that the GGBFS-stabilized BCS provides a durable and cost-effective alternative to traditional pavement base materials.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) under State Project No. 736-99-1213 and LTRC Research Project No. 03-8GT. The writers would like to extend their appreciation to Bill King, Melba Bounds, Paul Brady, William Tierney, and Aaron Austin for their help in the field tests. Special thanks are extended to Bill King in collecting construction cost data of subbase and base materials. The pavement section personnel’s help is also greatly appreciated.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 20 • Issue 11 • November 2008
Pages: 718 - 725
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 11, 2007
Accepted: Apr 21, 2008
Published online: Nov 1, 2008
Published in print: Nov 2008
Notes
Note. Associate Editor: Anand J. Puppala
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