Fatigue Behavior of a Pavement Foundation with Recycled Aggregate and Waste HDPE Strips

A laboratory investigation was conducted to evaluate the fatigue behavior of an alternative pavement foundation material containing cement stabilized reclaimed crushed aggregate. Class C fly ash, and waste-plastic strip [high density polyethylene (HDPE)] reinforcement. The primary motivation for this research was to evaluate a composite that contained more than 90% recycled materials for use as an alternative foundation layer underneath conventional flexible or rigid pavement. The specific objectives of this study were (1) to evaluate the flexural fatigue behavior of the new composite, and (2) to evaluate the accumulation of fatigue damage in the material. The results indicate that the fatigue resistance of this material is similar to other traditional stabilized pavement materials. It was found that the dynamic elastic modulus remained approximately constant (degraded slowly) for most specimens up to the end of fatigue life. Fatigue damage computed using a dissipated energy approach showed that the damage accumulation in this material approximately follows Miner's rule for cumulative damage, which is often used in pavement engineering.     

Mechanical Stabilization of Cemented Soil–Fly Ash Mixtures with Recycled Plastic Strips

An experimental investigation was undertaken to evaluate the mechanical behavior of a soil–cement–fly ash composite, reinforced with recycled plastic strips (high-density polyethylene) that were obtained from postconsumer milk and water containers. The primary motivation for the study was to investigate the innovative reuse of several candidate waste materials in geotechnical and pavement applications. The specific objectives of the research were: (1) to evaluate the compressive, split tensile, and flexural strength characteristics of the material, and (2) to determine the effectiveness of recycled plastic strips in enhancing the toughness characteristics of the composite. Since cement-stabilized materials are weak in tension, the main focus of the experimental program was to conduct a series of specially instrumented split tensile and flexural tests on mixes containing various amounts of cement, fly ash, and plastic strips. For a meaningful comparison of test results, all specimens were prepared at a constant dry density. The standard ASTM C496 procedure for split tensile test was slightly modified by attaching two horizontal linear variable differential transformers (LVDTs) to measure the diametral deformation of the specimen due to compressive loading in an orthogonal direction. This modification enabled the evaluation of the postpeak toughness behavior of the composite. For some specimens, a strain gauge was attached to the middle of the face perpendicular to the loading plane in order to correlate the results with the one found using the LVDTs. All tests were performed with a 90 kN universal testing machine with deformation control. Experimental data show that the soil–cement matrix stabilized with 4% to 10% by weight of fly ash and reinforced with 0.25% to 0.5% (by weight) plastic strips (having lengths of 19 mm or 38 mm) can achieve a maximum compressive strength of 7000 kPa, a split tensile strength of 1000 kPa, and a flexural strength of 1200 kPa. These ranges in strength values are suitable for a high-quality stabilized base course for a highway pavement. To quantify the reinforcing effects in the postpeak region, a dimensionless toughness index is proposed. It is found that the use of fiber reinforcement significantly increases the postpeak load carrying capacity of the mix and thus the fracture energy. It is concluded that the lean cementitious mix containing recycled materials offer a lot of promise as an alternative material for civil engineering construction.