Interlocking concrete block pavement as an alternative to flexible and rigid pavement in medium traffic condition: comparative assessment based on sustainability

Abstract

Highway pavements are one of the most energy and resource intensive infrastructure in the world. Hence, studies related to sustainability of pavements are gaining much importance. Interlocking Concrete Block Pavement (ICBP) is a widely accepted technology used extensively for constructing parking lots, walkways and roads. Compared to other conventional pavement methods, ICBP has many advantages such as less maintenance cost, high dimensional accuracy and will not be affected by thermal expansion and contraction. At present, the researches dealing with ICBP are focused mainly on the structural aspects only. However, it is necessary to study a pavement system in terms of its structural, environmental and economic aspects. Through this work, an attempt is made to study all these three aspects of ICBP which is meant to carry medium traffic. The design of ICBP was carried out based on IRC SP63: 2018. Both rigid and flexible pavement systems for the same traffic conditions were designed following IRC58: 2015 and IRC37: 2018 respectively. Comparison of these three pavement systems were carried out in terms of their material, construction as well as environmental aspects. Cradle to gate Life Cycle Assessment(LCA) of three pavement systems were studied using OpenLCA software. The economic aspect was evaluated by preparing material quantity estimates assuming single lane road for a 10m stretch. The results indicate that ICBP is a competitive option to rigid and flexible pavements in medium traffic conditions.