Behavior of a draining mixture composed by recycled concrete aggregates and rubberized asphalt concrete

Abstract

Concrete waste is considered an environmental liability with a negative impact. However, this type of waste presents a high potential to be used as an alternative building material. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the applicability of substituting the conventional natural stone aggregate (CA) of a draining asphalt mixture (MD) by a recycled concrete aggregate (RCA). Firstly, RCA was physically characterized to be compared with the AC. Then, two MD mixtures were design with rubberized asphalt concrete (GCR by its spanish acronym): one using the conventional aggregate (control sample) and one with the RCA substituting entirely the CA. Experimental tests under monotonic load (indirect tensile strength - RTI) were conducted over the mixtures, as well as adhesion tests (susceptibility of RTI in wet and dry conditions and abrasion wear Cantabro). The results indicate that for MD mixtures with RCA, a higher content of asphalt is required than with CA. Additionally, it wasfound that the presence of higher asphalt content in MD-RCA mixtures increases its adhesion when compared with the control sample. Therefore, it can be concluded that the use the RCA for MD mixtures, in the proposed way, is technically and environmentally viable.