Open    Access



Concrete Containing Marginal Aggregates for Use in Concrete Pavement



Author(s)

Patrick Amoah Bekoe1 and Mang Tia2

Full-Text PDF XML     188 Views

DOI:10.17265/1934-7359/2014.11.008

1. Department of Feeder Roads, Ministry of Roads and Highways, Koforidua P.O.Box 2588, Ghana
2. Department of Civil and Coastal Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville P.O.Box 116580, USA

The study presented an analysis accessing the feasibility of using concrete containing marginal aggregates in concrete pavement slabs. The physical properties of aggregates were first determined and concrete was produced from them. Marginal aggregates were found to have higher fines, absorption, soundness loss, micro-Deval abrasion loss, LA (Los Angeles) abrasion loss and lower specific gravity and unit weight when compared with standard aggregates. Workability of concrete containing marginal aggregate was found to be similar to concrete containing normal aggregates when Shilstone mix design method was used to optimize the concrete mixes. The compressive strength, splitting tensile, flexural strength and modulus of elasticity of concrete containing marginal aggregates were determined and found to be generally lower than concrete containing standard aggregates. A typical concrete pavement in Florida was modeled in FEACONSIV (finite element analysis of concrete slab) software developed at the University of Florida. Laboratory determined mechanical and thermal properties of concrete were inputted in FEACONS IV and analyzed for maximum induced stresses. Critical stress to strength ratios, i.e., ratio between maximum computed stresses obtained from FEACONS IV to modulus of rupture (strength) of concrete, was used as evaluation criterion for different concrete pavement mixes. It was found that, in general, concrete containing marginal aggregates have higher stress to strength ratios as compared with concrete containing standard aggregates.

Marginal aggregates, concrete, pavement, stress to strength ratio, FEACONS.