Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Properties of Recycled Construction and Demolition Materials in Pavement Subbase Applications
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 25, Issue 8
Abstract
A comprehensive laboratory evaluation of the geotechnical and geoenvironmental properties of five predominant types of construction and demolition (C&D) waste materials was undertaken in this research study. The C&D materials tested were recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), crushed brick (CB), waste rock (WR), reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP), and fine recycled glass (FRG). The geotechnical assessment included particle size distribution, particle density, water absorption, compaction, Los Angeles abrasion, postcompaction sieve analysis, flakiness index, hydraulic conductivity and California bearing ratio (CBR) tests. Shear strength properties of the materials were studied through a series of triaxial tests. Consolidated drained triaxial tests undertaken on the recycled materials indicated that the recycled materials had a drained cohesion ranging from 41 kPa to 46 kPa and a drained friction angle ranging from 49° to 51°, with the exception of FRG and RAP. The response of the materials under repeated load was investigated using repeated load triaxial (RLT) tests. The RLT testing results indicated that RCA, WR, and CB performed satisfactorily at 98% maximum dry density and at a target moisture content of 70% of the optimum moisture content under modified compaction. The geoenvironmental assessment included pH value, organic content, total and leachate concentration of the material for a range of contaminant constituents. In terms of usage in pavement subbases, RCA and WR were found to have geotechnical engineering properties equivalent or superior to that of typical quarry granular subbase materials. CB at the lower target moisture contents of 70% of the OMC was also found to meet the requirements of typical quarry granular subbase materials. The properties of CB, RAP, and FRG, however, may be further enhanced with additives or mixed in blends with high quality aggregates to enable their usage in pavement subbases.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Aatheesan, T., Arulrajah, A., Bo, M. W., Vuong, B., and Wilson, J. (2010). “Crushed brick blends with crushed rock for pavement systems.” Waste Resource Manag., 163(1), 29–35.
Akbulut, H., and Gürer, C. (2007). “Use of aggregates produced from marble quarry waste in asphalt pavements.” Build. Environ., 42(5), 1921–1930.
Ali, Y. M. M., Newman, G., Arulrajah, A., and Disfani, M. M. (2011). “Application of recycled glass-crushed rock blends in road pavements.” Aust. Geomech. J., 46(1), 113–121.
Arulrajah, A., Ali, Y. M. M., Piratheepan, J., and Bo, M. W. (2012b). “Geotechnical properties of waste excavation rock in pavement subbase applications.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 24(7), 924–932.
Arulrajah, A., Piratheepan, J., Aatheesan, T., and Bo, M. W. (2011). “Geotechnical properties of recycled crushed brick in pavement applications.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 23(10), 1444–1452.
Arulrajah, A., Piratheepan, J., Bo, M. W., and Sivakugan, N. (2012a). “Geotechnical characteristics of recycled crushed brick blends for pavement sub-base applications.” Can. Geotech. J., 49(7), 796–811.
ASTM. (2007a). “Standard test methods for moisture, ash, and organic matter of peat and other organic soils.” D2974-07, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2007b). “Standard specification for materials for soil-aggregate subbase, base and surface courses.” D1241-07, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2009). “Standard practice for sampling aggregate.” D75/D75M-09, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2010). “Standard practice for classification of soils for engineering purposes (Unified Soil Classification System).” D2487-10, West Conshohocken, PA.
AustRoads. (2000). “Determination of permanent deformation and resilient modulus characteristics of unbound granular materials under drained conditions.” Commentary to AG:PT/T053, AustRoads, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
AustRoads. (2004). Guide to the structural design of road pavements, AustRoads, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Bennert, T., Papp, W. J., Jr., Maher, A., and Gucunski, N. (2000). “Utilization of construction and demolition debris under traffic-type loading in base and subbase applications.”, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 33–39.
British Standard Institute. (1989). “Methods for determination of particles shape-section 105.1 Flakiness index.” BS 812-105.1:1998, London.
Chang, C. Y., Huang, R., Lee, P. C., and Weng, T. L. (2011). “Application of a weighted Grey-Taguchi method for optimizing recycled aggregate concrete mixtures.” Cem. Concr. Compos., 33(10), 1038–1049.
Chidiroglou, I., Goodwin, A. K., Laycock, E., and O’Flaherty, F. (2008). “Physical properties of demolition waste material.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng.: Constr. Mater., 161(3), 97–103.
Courard, L., Michel, F., and Delhez, P. (2010). “Use of concrete road recycled aggregates for Roller Compacted Concrete.” Constr. Build. Mater., 24(3), 390–395.
Disfani, M. M., Arulrajah, A., Bo, M. W., and Hankour, R. (2011). “Recycled crushed glass in road work applications.” Waste Manage., 31(11), 2341–2351.
Disfani, M. M., Arulrajah, A., Bo, M. W., and Sivakugan, N. (2012). “Environmental risks of using recycled crushed glass in road applications.” J. Cleaner Prod., 20(1), 170–179.
EPA Victoria. (2007). Information update for EPA 996, Environmental Protection Agency of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
EPA Victoria. (2010). “Waste categorization, industrial waste resource guidelines.” Publication No. IWRG 600.2, Environmental Protection Agency of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
FHWA. (1998). “User guidelines for waste and by-product materials in pavement construction.” FHWA-RD-97-148, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, DC.
Gabr, A. R., and Cameron, D. (2012). “Properties of recycled concrete aggregate for unbound pavement construction.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 24(6), 754–764.
Gayarre, F. L., López-Colina, C., Serrano, M. A., and López-Martínez, A. (2013). “Manufacture of concrete kerbs and floor blocks with recycled aggregate from C&DW.” Constr. Build. Mater., 40, 1193–1199.
Gregory, R. J., Hughes, T. G., and Kwan, A. S. K. (2004). “Brick recycling and reuse.” Eng. Sustain., 157(3), 155–161.
Halstead, W. J. (1993). “Use of waste glass in highway construction.” VCTIR No. 93-TAR2, Virginia Transportation Research Council, Virginia.
Head, K. H. (1994). Manual of soil laboratory testing (volume 2): Permeability, shear strength and compressibility tests, 2nd Ed., Pentech Press, London.
Hoyos, L. R., Puppala, A. J., and Ordonez, C. A. (2011). “Characterization of cement-fiber-treated reclaimed asphalt pavement aggregates: preliminary investigation.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 23(7), 977–989.
Jankovic, K., Nikolic, D., and Bojovic, D. (2012). “Concrete paving blocks and flags made with crushed brick as aggregate.” Constr. Build. Mater., 28(1), 659–663.
Jitsangiam, P., and Nikraz, H. (2009). “Mechanical behaviors of hydrated cement treated crushed rock base as a road base material in Western Australia.” Int. J. Pavement Eng., 10(1), 39–47.
Landris, T. L. (2007). “Recycled glass and dredged materials.”, US Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center, Vicksburg, MS.
Li, F., Chen, J., Zhao, X., and Hou, N. (2012). “Experiment research on the use of recycled brick aggregate in concrete tiles.” Adv. Mat. Res., 374, 1912–1915.
Liu, H. J., Li, P. X., Cao, S. G., and Zhao, F. Q. (2012). “Preparation of high-performance brick from construction and demolition waste.” Adv. Mat. Res., 391, 180–183.
McKelvey, D., Sivakumar, V., Bell, A., and McLaverty, G. (2002). “Shear strength of recycled construction materials intended for use in vibro ground improvement.” Ground Improv., 6(2), 59–68.
Melbouci, B. (2009). “Compaction and shearing behavior study of recycled aggregates.” Constr. Build. Mater., 23(8), 2723–2730.
Meyer, C. (2001). “Recycled glass—from waste material to valuable resource.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Recycling and Reuse of Glass Cullet, University of Dundee, Scotland.
Nunes, M. C. M., Bridges, M. G., and Dawson, A. R. (1996). “Assessment of secondary materials for pavement construction: Technical and environmental aspects.” Waste Manage., 16(1–3), 87–96.
Papp, W. J., Jr., Maher, M. H., Bennert, T. A., and Gucunski, N. (1998). “Behavior of construction and demolition debris in base and subbase applications.” Geotech. Spec. Publ., 79, 122–136.
Poon, C. S., and Chan, D. (2006). “Feasible use of recycled concrete aggregates and crushed clay brick as unbound road subbase.” Constr. Build. Mater., 20(8), 578–585.
Pratt, E. (1993). Current uses and evaluation of recycled materials in highway construction: Overview of the northeastern states, Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC.
Puppala, A. J., Hoyos, L. R., and Potturi, A. K. (2011). “Resilient moduli response of moderately cement-treated reclaimed asphalt pavement aggregates.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 23(7), 990–998.
Rodgers, M., Hayes, G., and Healy, M. G. (2009). “Cyclic loading tests on sandstone and limestone shale aggregates used in unbound forest roads.” Constr. Build. Mater., 23(6), 2421–2427.
Senadheera, S., Nash, P., and Rana, A. (2005). “Characterization of the behavior of granular road material containing glass cullet.” Proc., 7th Int. Conf. Bearing Capacity of Roads, Railways and Airfields, Department of Civil Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.
Sivakumar, V., McKinley, J. D., and Ferguson, D. (2004). “Reuse of construction waste: performance under repeated loading.” Proc. Inst. Civ. Eng. Geotech. Eng., 157(2), 91–96.
Standards Australia. (1997a). “Methods of testing soils for engineering purposes. Method 4.3.1: soil chemical tests-determination of the pH value of a soil-electrometric method.” AS 1289.4.3.1-1997, Homebush, NSW, Australia.
Standards Australia. (1997b). “Wastes, sediments and contaminated soils, part 3: preparation of leachates-bottle leaching procedure.” AS 4439.3-1997, Homebush, NSW, Australia.
Sustainability Victoria. (2010). “Victorian recycling industries annual report 2008-2009.” ISSN 1836-9902, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Taha, B., and Nounu, G. (2008). “Properties of concrete contains mixed colour waste recycled glass as sand and cement replacement.” Constr. Build. Mater., 22(5), 713–720.
Taha, R., Al-Harthy, A., Al-Shamsi, K., and Al-Zubeidi, M. (2002). “Cement stabilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement aggregate for road bases and subbases.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 14(3), 239–245.
Tam, V. W. Y., and Tam, C. M. (2007). “Crushed aggregate production from centralized combined and individual waste sources in Hong Kong.” Constr. Build. Mater., 21(4), 879–886.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). (1999). “National primary drinking water standards.” EPA-F-94-001, Washington, DC.
VicRoads. (1998). “Guide to general requirements for unbound pavement materials.” Technical Bulletin 39, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Wartman, J., Grubb, D. G., and Nasim, A. S. M. (2004). “Select engineering characteristics of crushed glass.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 16(6), 526–539.
Zheng, L., Ge, Z., Yao, Z., Sun, R., and Dong, J. (2011). “The properties of concrete with recycled clay-brick-powder.” App. Mech. Mat., 99, 826–831.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 25 • Issue 8 • August 2013
Pages: 1077 - 1088
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 21, 2012
Accepted: Aug 13, 2012
Published online: Aug 29, 2012
Discussion open until: Jan 29, 2013
Published in print: Aug 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.