Effect of Tiles Waste and Fly Ash Brick Waste on Permeability and Strength of Lower Granular Subbase Material

Abstract

As there is growth in the construction industry, construction and demolition (C&D) waste generation is also growing with higher rates in India and hence dumping this waste is a major problem. The construction industry generates 12–15 million tonnes of C&D waste per annum. This C&D waste can be effectively utilized for construction of road pavement. Granular subbase course (GSB) acts as an important layer in the structure layer as well as a drainage layer in the pavement. Most of the pavements in India fail prematurely mainly due to the ineffective functioning of this drainage layer. In this study, engineering properties of fly ash brick (FAB) waste and tiles waste (TW) in a combination of murum to serve it as granular subbase materials were investigated. The objective is to compare the permeability as well as strength characteristics of GSB gradations prepared with different C&D mixes. Modified Proctor tests were conducted on different mixes of FAB waste and murum as well as TW and murum for determination of compaction characteristics. Proctor test result shows that as FAB waste content in murrum increases, the MDD value decreases, and the similar results were obtained for TW content. CBR test was conducted on the various mixes of waste material and murum from which CBR value of 70M + 30FAB was found to be highest. From permeability test, it was observed that the k value goes on increasing after the addition of FAB and TW in soil murrum mix. The permeability test indicated that FAB and TW materials are effective to drain off the water from the subbase layer. From the study, it was noticed that the strength parameter of FAB waste was found to be more effective than that of TW and both the materials show improvement in drainability property.