Moving towards an environmentally sustainable concrete pavement using recycled concrete aggregate

Although there is a critical shortage of virgin aggregate, the availability of demolished concrete for use as recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is increasing. Using the waste concrete as RCA conserves virgin aggregate, reduces the impact on landfills, decreases energy consumption and can provide cost savings. Performance of the RCA test sections is monitored through ongoing pavement evaluations using the Ontario Ministry of Transportation's Manual for Condition Rating of Rigid Pavements, and surface roughness. Additionally, the pavement was instrumented with sensors to monitor pavement performance in relation to long-term environmental conditions. The four test sections contained 48 sensors to monitor slab curling and warping, strain development, joint movement, temperature and maturity. Preliminary laboratory testing and field results support a mix design containing quality coarse RCA of a specific size to result in concrete that exhibits similar or improved performance compared to non-RCA containing concrete.