Use of Shredded Rubber in Unbound Granular Flexible Pavement Layers

Author(s):  
Richard H. Speir ◽  
Matthew W. Witczak

The major objective of the research was to conduct a study into the feasibility of using shredded rubber as a partial replacement for aggregate within conventional base and subbase materials in a flexible pavement system. A graded aggregate base and sand subbase meeting specifications for the Maryland State Highway Administration were used. The rubber used in the study consisted of a shredded product with 60 to 70 percent retained on a 9.5-mm (⅜-in.) sieve. This size was selected because of the relatively inexpensive cost to produce it and because of its adaptability to an aggregate blend. Modified and standard Proctor, California bearing ratio (CBR), and resilient modulus tests were conducted on the base/subbase-rubber blends with up to 15 percent rubber content by weight. The aggregate base blend resulted in significant decreases in both CBR and nonlinear resilient modulus at 15 percent rubber. These significant reductions led the authors to conclude that the use of shredded rubber in a dense-graded aggregate base course is not feasible. In contrast, the sand-subbase blends resulted in insignificant changes to the CBR, friction angle, permeability, and resilient modulus at higher rubber percentages. It was concluded that the sand-rubber sub-base exhibits little change compared with the virgin sand-subbase material. As a result the use of shredded rubber may be a technically feasible alternative in the construction process. Finally, two constitutive models were used in the resilient modulus analysis: the conventional K1, K2 model and a universal model incorporating an octahedral stress term (k1, k2, k3 model). Direct comparisons revealed greatly improved predictability and accuracy with the universal model for assessing the nonlinear behaviors of both aggregate types evaluated.

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 639-654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Stolle ◽  
Peijun Guo ◽  
Ying Liu

An essential component of the new Guide for mechanistic–empirical design of new and rehabilitated pavement structures for the design of flexible pavement structures is the use of resilient modulus for base / subbase materials and subgrade soils. This study reports on resilient modulus (Mr) test results for unbound pavement materials that were obtained according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standard T307–99. Laboratory tests were performed on 36 representative aggregates from across Ontario and empirical relations between Mr and the bulk stress were investigated, as well as the sensitivity of Mr to moulding water content and gradation. This paper proposes to replace the nonlinear relation between resilient modulus and bulk stress with a linear relation between the two, taking into account the uncertainties that include the effect of varying water content through stochastic analysis. The effects of deviatoric stress on resilient modulus were found to be negligible for the granular aggregates that were tested. The use of a linear relation was computationally more efficient than the use of a nonlinear law; however, differences in strain predictions were observed. The findings from the finite element simulations were consistent to other studies that compared solutions using various constitutive models.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 495
Author(s):  
Mingkai Zhou ◽  
Xu Cheng ◽  
Xiao Chen

The stability of steel-slag road materials remains a critical issue in their utilization as an aggregate base course. In this pursuit, the present study was envisaged to investigate the effects of fly ash on the mechanical properties and expansion behavior of cement-fly-ash-stabilized steel slag. Strength tests and expansion tests of the cement-fly-ash-stabilized steel slag with varying additions of fly ash were carried out. The results indicate that the cement-fly-ash-stabilized steel slag exhibited good mechanical properties. The expansion rate and the number of bulges of the stabilized material reduced with an increase in the addition. When the addition of fly ash was 30–60%, the stabilized material was not damaged due to expansion. Furthermore, the results of X-CT, XRD and SEM-EDS show that fly ash reacted with the expansive component of the steel slag. In addition, the macro structure of the stabilized material was found to be changed by an increase in the concentration of the fly ash, in order to improve the volumetric stability. Our study shows that the cement-fly-ash-stabilized steel slag exhibits good mechanical properties and volumetric stability with reasonable additions of fly ash.


Author(s):  
Laura Camarena

The Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) considers a hierarchical approach to determine the input values necessary for most design parameters. Level 1 requires site-specific measurement of the material properties from laboratory testing, whereas other levels make use of equations developed from regression models to estimate the material properties. Resilient modulus is a mechanical property that characterizes the unbound and subgrade materials under loading that is essential for the mechanistic design of pavements. The MEPDG resilient modulus model makes use of a three-parameter constitutive model to characterize the nonlinear behavior of the geomaterials. As the resilient modulus tests are complex, expensive, and require lengthy preparation time, most state highway agencies are unlikely to implement them as routine daily applications. Therefore, it is imperative to make use of models to calculate these nonlinear parameters. Existing models to determine these parameters are frequently based on linear regression. With the development of machine learning techniques, it is feasible to develop simpler equations that can be used to estimate the nonlinear parameters more accurately. This study makes use of the Long-Term Pavement Performance database and machine learning techniques to improve the equations utilized to determine the nonlinear parameters crucial to estimate the resilient modulus of unbound base and subgrade materials.


2021 ◽  
Vol 892 ◽  
pp. 99-106
Author(s):  
Romaynoor Ismy ◽  
Husaini ◽  
M. Saleh Sofyan ◽  
M. Isya

Flexural resistance is the ability of a specimen to withstand force in two pedestals with vertical axis until it is broken. Flexible pavement is a type of pavement which is very dependent with pavement course underneath. The dependency of flexible pavement in both base course and subgrade makes this pavement difficult to apply in unstable soil. Using wire mesh course as reinforcement is considerably able to raise the flexural resistance. This study is aimed to analyze flexural resistance value in hot mix by using wire mesh course as reinforcement. The study is conducted by applying experimental method with designing four types of wire mesh laying models in hot mix using three points flexural test equipment. Based on the study result, it is found that hot mix with wire mesh laying 30 mm from specimen surface is the best model type with 291,85 KN flexural resistance value with 8 mm of deflection depth. In this laying, it can be concluded that wire mesh course can raise up the flexural resistance up to 35,41% compared to the hot mix without wire mesh course.


2018 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 07006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zuzana Mičicová ◽  
Slavomíra Božeková ◽  
Mariana Pajtášová ◽  
Darina Ondrušová

The presented paper deals with the preparation of bentonite modified by silane and its application into polymer matrix. Natural bentonite was modified with 3-(Trimethoxysilyl) propyl-methacrylate in two different solutions. These two solutions had the same composition (ethanol, water and 3-(Trimethoxysilyl) propyl-methacrylate) but in one solution, pH was modified. These bentonites modified by silane were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The modified bentonites were mixed into rubber matrix as partial replacement of commonly used filler – carbon black of the N339 type. The polymer blends were investigated from the aspect of the rheological and curing characteristics (minimum torque ML, maximum torque MH, optimum time of cure t(c90), processing safety of blend ts,). Moreover, the quality of the silanization reactions was investigated. Measurements were done using PRPA 2000.


Author(s):  
W. Jeremy Robinson ◽  
Jeb S. Tingle ◽  
Carlos R. Gonzalez

A full-scale airfield pavement test section was constructed and trafficked by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to evaluate the performance of relatively thin airfield pavement structures. The test section consisted of four test items that included three asphalt pavement thicknesses and two different aggregate base courses. The test items were subjected to simulated aircraft traffic to evaluate their response and performance to realistic aircraft loads. Rutting behavior, instrumentation response, and falling weight deflectometer response were monitored at selected traffic intervals. It was found that the performance of the airfield pavement sections were most sensitive to aggregate base course properties, where a 50% reduction in base course strength resulted in a 99% reduction in allowable passes. The data suggested that when sufficient asphalt thickness is not provided, the failure mechanism shifted from subgrade failure to base course failure, particularly at higher subgrade CBR values. In addition, the number of aircraft passes sustained was less than that predicted by current Department of Defense (DOD) methods that include assumptions of a high-quality aggregate base and a minimum asphalt concrete thickness. The results of this study were used to extend existing DOD pavement design and evaluation techniques to include the evaluation of airfield pavement sections that do not meet the current criteria for aggregate base quality and minimum asphalt concrete surface thickness. These performance data were used to develop a new base failure design curve using existing stress-based design criteria.


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