Use of waste rubber particles in cement-stabilized aggregate for the eco-friendly pavement base layer construction: Laboratory performance and field application

Abstract

The waste tires were utilized for cement-stabilized aggregate (CSA), which could alleviate the environmental problems caused by waste tires and improve the durability of CSA. In this study, rubber particles with sizes ranging between 2.36 ∼ 4.75 mm were added to the CSA and replaced natural aggregate. The rubberized cement-stabilized aggregate (RCSA) was designed in the laboratory and verified in the field test road. The CSA and RCSA specimens were prepared by static pressure compaction and vertical vibration compaction in the laboratory and from field cores. The unconfined compressive strength test, indirect tensile strength test, fatigue test, dry shrinkage test, and temperature shrinkage test were adopted to evaluate the performance of RCSA. The results showed that the addition of rubber reduced the compressive and indirect tensile strength of CSA. However, the vibration compaction method could significantly alleviate the negative impact of rubber on strength reduction. The rubber particles could improve the deformation capacity and fatigue performance of CSA, and the maximum increase in ultimate failure strain was 21.5%. The dry shrinkage strain and dry shrinkage coefficient of CSA were reduced by 12.0% and 18.4%, respectively. The temperature shrinkage strain and temperature shrinkage coefficient decreased by 29.2% and 28.4% after adding rubber particles, respectively. Rubber could improve the durability and cracking resistance of CSA. The RCSA provided an option for an environmentally friendly pavement base layer.