Sustainability Assessment of Using Recycled Aggregates in Concrete Block Pavements

The mechanistic design of a concrete block pavement (CBP) can be very complicated and often requires the use of computer programs. This paper presents a new mechanistic-empirical method, which is implemented in a computer program (DesignPave) that calculates base course/sub-base thicknesses for a range of design inputs such as traffic load, interlocking properties, and material stiffness. A range of virgin and recycled unbound granular materials were also experimentally tested to characterize them for possible use as base course or sub-base materials. Combining the new mechanistic-empirical method and the range of base course/sub-base course materials (virgin and recycled aggregates), it was found that while a CBP containing recycled aggregates did not offer a significant direct financial benefit based on the characteristics or material costs, the associated environmental benefits were very high.