Valorisation of Recycled Construction and Demolition Wastes in geosynthetic reinforced steep slopes

Abstract

Over the last years the environmental sustainability has been demanding a progressive increase in the waste valorisation in construction industry. Although some studies have been carried out on the application of recycled Construction and Demolition Wastes (C&DW), their purposes are mainly the production of aggregates for use in concrete and in base layers of transportation infrastructures. As regards the application of C&DW in geotechnical works, it has been noticed that the valorisation is performed mainly in road construction, particularly in base and sub-base layers. The valorisation of recycled C&DW in geosynthetic reinforced structures is almost an unexplored field. A research project entitled "Sustainable application of Recycled Construction and Demolition Wastes in geosynthetic reinforced structures" (RCD-VALOR) is being developed at University of Porto, Portugal, since June 2013. This work presents and discusses some results of RCD-VALOR project, namely results related to the physical, mechanical and environmental characterization of the recycled C&D materials, the characterization of C&DW/geosynthetic interfaces through pullout and direct shear tests and the potential damage induced by recycled C&DW on the geosynthetics short-term tensile behaviour. The results achieved to date have shown that C&DW seem to be alternative materials for the construction of geosynthetic reinforced embankments.