Laboratory Evaluation of Recycled Concrete as Aggregate in New Concrete Pavements
PI: Haifang Wen (WSU)
Dates: 03/01/2012 – 07/31/2014
Final Project Report: PacTrans-34-WSU-Wen
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has initiated a research project to investigate the use of recycled concrete as aggregates (RCA) in Portland (hydraulic) cement concrete pavements (PCCP). The planned source for the RCA in the project will be from demolished pavements in western Washington, which generally contain very high quality aggregates. Aggregate quality varies across the state, and concrete made with RCA sourced elsewhere will likely have different properties.
This PacTrans proposal will expand the scope of WSDOT project to include additional sources of RCA as well as evaluations of the RCA properties for the purpose of establishing performance criteria necessary for successful application to PCCP. The goal of the combined projects is to evaluate the use of RCA for widespread application in concrete pavements in Washington State and beyond.
The objectives of this project are to investigate the use of RCA from demolished pavements as coarse aggregate in new PCCP and to establish needed performance criteria for successful application. Combined with the parallel WSDOT project, the study will investigate the properties of concrete incorporating RCA obtained from three geographically-dispersed sources in Washington. Tests will be performed to evaluate the RCA properties and the effects of RCA on concrete mix designs, workability, fresh and hardened properties, long-term durability and cost.
