Utilisation of Recycled Concrete Aggregate in Bituminous Paving Mixes: An Economic Evaluation

Abstract

The present paper presents economic evaluation of dense bituminous macadam (DBM) mixes containing recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) modified by waste polyethylene, using net present value (NPV) method. The important findings including procedure for pre-treatment of RCA have been presented. The value of initial investment along with rehabilitation and extra widening for 30 years of bituminous pavement construction has been considered for determination of whole-life construction cost. This varies mostly due to the costs related to manufacturing, production, transportation and mixture preparation. The guidelines on the structural design of bituminous pavements by Indian Roads Congress (IRC) involving elastic layer analysis have been followed. Considering a hypothetical example of a pavement for economic implication of using the above two waste materials, it was observed that there is 8-10% reduction in total cost by using RCA/PRCA with or without waste polyethylene for modification of mixes as compared with the conventional one.