Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag as a Partial Replacement of Cement in Open-Graded Cement-Stabilized Macadam
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 4
Abstract
Pavement engineers are paying attention to the stabilization of granular layers in the modern era of sustainable construction. A well-drained pavement can extend the service life to its design life if properly designed and maintained. The water infiltrating into the pavement causes detrimental effects and reduces the service life of the pavement. The open-graded cement-stabilized macadam (OGCSM) can act as a drainage layer in sustainable pavements. Cement cannot be considered as a long-term sustainable material due to its high carbon footprint. This paper investigated the suitability of a supplementary cementitious material, ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), as a partial replacement of cement in OGCSM, a drainage layer in pavements. The strength and permeability characteristics of the mix were studied using an unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test and specially fabricated permeameters, respectively. OGCSM was optimized at 7% cement content, and cement in the OGCSM was partially substituted with GGBFS at various replacement levels. The mix was optimized at 80% replacement of cement with GGBFS, which satisfied the specified requirements for strength, permeability, and durability. The UCS, coefficient of effective permeability, and water resistance index of the optimized mix were 2.88 MPa, and 96.33%, respectively. The morphology and mineralogy characteristics of the optimized mix were determined to justify the strength gain in cementitious mixtures. The porosity of the OGCSM mix was estimated as 25.86% using computed tomography (CT) scanned images. The subsurface drainage design was carried out using drainage requirements in pavements (DRIP 2.0) software, and the quality of drainage was rated as good.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The research team gratefully acknowledges the engineering technicians and undergraduate students who worked on this study.
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Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 4 • April 2024
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© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Feb 20, 2023
Accepted: Sep 14, 2023
Published online: Jan 19, 2024
Published in print: Apr 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 19, 2024
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