Field Distress Study for Performance Assessment of Roads Constructed Using Waste Plastic
摘要
Disposal of waste plastic is a major concern. Plastics are not readily biodegradable and so the dumps in landfills remain in environment for a considerable period of time. Using the waste in road construction can significantly reduce burden on environment. Guidelines to use waste plastics in hot bituminous mixes through dry process has been outlined in IRC SP-98 which has been adopted in low-volume road construction. However, in-field performance assessment are needed to establish benefits of waste plastic over conventional roads. In this study, distress surveys have been performed to compare conventional and waste plastic roads. The surveys were performed twice at an interval of one year on 21 different roads. This included 14 waste plastic roads and 7 conventional roads. To ensure that the conventional and waste plastic roads have been subjected to similar traffic and climatic conditions, the roads were selected from the same vicinity. Pavement condition rating value has been considered as a parameter for understanding condition of road, which was calculated according to the IRC 82-2015 guidelines. To compute chainage wise pavement condition, a JavaScript-based web application has been build. For structural evaluation, light weight deflectometer was conducted before and after rainy season. It was found that the waste plastic road performed better compared to conventional road. The pavement condition rating and impact stiffness modulus of waste plastic roads indicate that use of waste plastics in hot bituminous mixes may improve the life of pavement.