Investigation of construction and demolition materials reinforced by geosynthetics

Abstract

Many researchers suggest using construction and demolition materials (C&D) in engineering applications rather than virgin aggregates (VA). However, the engineering properties of C&D tend to be poorer than those of VA. This study presents the results of plate loading tests performed on unpaved roads with C&D, reinforced by different types of geosynthetics on the soft subgrade. As part of these tests, the effects of some geosynthetic parameters such as (a) the embedment depth, (b) the height and pocket opening of the geocell, (c) the embedment depths and number of geogrids, (d) the distance between geogrids and (e) the stiffness of the geotextile on the bearing capacity of the unpaved road were investigated. Moreover, the same plate loading test was also conducted on an unpaved road built with VA. As a result of this study, although the performance of C&D was determined to be lower than that of VA, it was concluded that C&D performed well enough to be used as an alternative to VA on unpaved roads. Furthermore, with a very small number of geosynthetics, it was determined that C&D could have a better performance than VA.