Experimental Studies on Rigid Concrete Pavement by using various Cost Effective and Recycled Materials for Improving the Strength and Reducing the Cost of Pavement

Abstract

An experimental program was carried out in order to investigate the possibility of producing concrete for pavement construction incorporating large volumes of industrial by-products and recycled materials. The use of industrial by-products and recycled materials in concrete pavements is continuing to see more attention. The alternative materials which are being used as replacement were fly ash and silica fume as binder for cement replacement and steel slag as fine aggregate. Several concrete mixtures were prepared using different aggregate and binder combinations in order to identify the feasibility of producing concrete with maximum use of alternative materials. The different mixtures were tested for mechanical strength at different stages. The conventional concrete was replaced by industrial by-products independently and also combined replacements of materials were done. Finally the combined optimum replacement percentage of fly ash, silica fume and steel slag has been found and compared with conventional concrete. This paper shows how the cost of construction of rigid concrete pavement can be reduced without compensation of the optimum strength of the rigid pavement.