Performance assessments of open-graded cement stabilized macadam containing recycled aggregate

Abstract

Increased awareness of sustainability has called for increasing use of construction waste in civil infrastructures. However, the incorporation of construction waste should be well examined without compromising the performance. There are few studies focusing on applying construction waste in pervious concrete. This study was aimed at exploring the feasibility of reusing recycled aggregate from construction waste for open-graded cement stabilized macadam (OGCSM) and evaluating its performance. Various replacement ratios of recycled aggregate ranging from 0% to 100% were designed and studied in the OGCSM. The performance of OGCSM containing recycled aggregate are comprehensively evaluated. Specifically unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test, indirect tensile strength (ITS) test, compression resilience modulus test, dry shrinkage test, frost resistance test, and permeability test were conducted. As the results showed, the UCS, ITS and compression resilience modulus of OGCSM decreased with the increase of replacement ratios of recycled aggregate. Dry shrinkage performance also declined with the increase of recycled aggregate content while permeability performance increased with the increase of recycled aggregate content. The UCS after freeze-thaw cycles declined with the increase of recycled aggregate content and cycles. However, there was no significant correlation between residue strength rate and recycled aggregate content. When the replacement ratio was 30%, the residue strength rate was maximum. Although the performance of OGCSM declined with the increase of recycled aggregate content, it could be potentially used in the base of the highway when the performance of OGCSM containing appropriate amount of recycled aggregate met the requirement of base layer of pavements.