Abstract
Now-a-days the depletion of natural resources has
been a major issue in the construction sector from which the road
segment cannot be excluded. Because of the extensive road
construction processes the aggregate demand is so huge that lots
of blastings, quarrying, crushing and transportation activities are
consuming a lot of energies, but also the aggregate materials are
depleting fast and are in short supply. On the other hand,
industrial wastes, by-products and locally available unused
materials which are considered as non-conventional materials are
causing environmental and dumping problems, but can have a
potential for their application in road constructions. In the
present study, an attempt has been made to utilise two types of
materials such as the slag, a waste material from the steel
industries and locally and abundantly available gravel (moorum)
in the road sub-bases. The chemical composition, phase
composition, toxic and heavy metals present in both the slag and
its leachate water are studied. Its gradation and other physical
properties are studied by using suitable tests and techniques.
Conventional crushed aggregates are also used in conjunction
with the slag or moorum to satisfy the desired grading for use in
a particular layer as per the specifications of the Ministry of
Road Transport and Highways. The optimum percentage of the
slag and moorum that can be used in sub-base layer is found to
be 80% and 50% respectively. In case of moorum, cement has
also been used in required quantity to get the desired strength.
The physical properties have been studied. It is observed that
both the slag and hard moorum have excellent properties as road
aggregates and can be used in the road base and sub-base
applications.