Geotechnical performance of isotropic and foliated quartzite waste as aggregate for road base and asphalt mixture

Abstract

Quartzite mines produce a large amount of waste. Although the reuse of materials is essential for sustainable constructions, little is known about the geotechnical properties of isotropic (massive) and foliated (discontinuous) quartzite waste. In this paper, the potential use of these wastes as base layers and asphalt mixtures were examined by a series of laboratory tests and numerical simulations. This paper presents an analysis of the particle properties, durability, strength, and deformation response of quartzite waste in isotropic (IGM) and foliated granular (FGM) mixtures. Asphalt mixtures with isotropic (IAM) and foliated (FAM) quartzite waste as aggregates are evaluated using Brazilian tensile strength, moisture susceptibility, and repeated-load indirect tension tests, such as the resilient modulus and fatigue. To estimate the performance of these materials as pavement layers, numerical experiments are also carried out using the mechanistic-empirical design framework of the MeDiNa software package. As a base material, the mixtures showed plastic creep responses at the highest stress level (higher permanent strain of 1.2 % at σ3/σd = 360/120 kPa) and negligible expansion. The California bearing ratio (higher than 130 % for both IGM and FGM) and resilient modulus (average of 224 and 130 MPa for IGM and FGM, respectively) greatly exceeded the minimum requirement of Brazilian standards. As asphalt mixtures, both IAM and FAM met the minimum limit of tensile strength, but IAM showed greater stiffness. According to the stress–strain analysis of the MeDiNa software, granular and asphalt mixtures incorporating quartzite waste fulfilled the fatigue crack area and rut depth criteria, falling within the allowed thickness ranges for road pavements subjected to up to 5×106 repetitions (medium heavy traffic). This study provides support for the transformation of quartzite waste into a valuable byproduct.