Challenges Confronting Sustainable Practices for Concrete Pavement Design and Construction in Australia

10.6135/ijprt.org.tw/2010.3(5).259

George Vorobieff

Concrete ； Design models ； Pavement ； Recycling ； Sustainability

International Journal of Pavement Research and Technology

3卷5期（2010 / 09 / 01）

259 - 269

英文

Australia has consistently used supplementary cementitious binders as a replacement to General Purpose (ordinary) cement in a variety of pavement materials since the 1990s. These binders often provide many enhancements to both the wet and hardened properties of concrete. However, while the usage of by-products like fly ash is a success story, Australia has yet to use bottom ash and other recycled materials effectively in concrete pavement configurations and stockpiles of these material increases from year to year or is just placed in landfills. Pavement engineers have been accustomed to selecting the 'best' industrial by-products, there is a growing need for further research on how to best utilise other by-products in pavement materials both above and below the formation level. The use of other than quarried materials in the lower layers will greatly assist with sustainable practices and recent trials with two-layered slipform paving in NSW should steer pavement engineers in better utilisation of resources in the concrete layers and modify design rules and specifications to allow these materials in combination with quarried products. Some of our existing concrete roads are becoming rough and/or losing surface texture and diamond grinding equipment will be able to restore ride quality or skid resistance without the need to place thin asphalt correction courses which will also help conserve quarried materials. This paper explores the challenges facing pavement engineers and asset managers in Australia in achieving further refinements to concrete pavement design and construction practices, especially in NSW. Focusing only on the sustainability of design or construction practices is simply not enough, and in the coming years, new government policy will dictate higher levels of sustainable road construction practices. If concrete as a material is to compete in the future with other road construction materials, pavement engineers will have to make advances in the traditional approaches to the design, specifications and construction of concrete pavements and to change the current business environment of procurement and compliance.