Compaction Procedures and Associated Environmental Impacts Analysis for Application of Steel Slag in Road Base Layer

Bo Gao, Chao Yang, Yingxue Zou, Fusong Wang, Xiaojun Zhou, Diego Maria Barbieri and Shaopeng Wu
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Bo Gao: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Chao Yang: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Yingxue Zou: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Fusong Wang: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Xiaojun Zhou: State Key Laboratory of High-Performance Civil Engineering Materials, Sobute New Materials Co., Ltd., Nanjing 211103, China
Diego Maria Barbieri: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway
Shaopeng Wu: State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: In recent years, recycling steel slag is receiving growing interest in the road base layer construction field due to its role in alleviating land occupation and resource shortages. However, the mixture compaction and its environmental impact on practical construction sites remain unclear, which may hinder the application of steel slags in road layers. This study investigates the pavement construction of the ‘Baotou-Maoming’ motorway, located in Inner Mongolia, China, analyzing the compaction procedures and assessing the environmental impacts caused by the road base layer containing steel slag. Firstly, mechanical properties and texture appearances of the steel slag aggregates are characterized. Afterwards, the comparative assessments for steel slag and andesite layers compaction are quantified from equivalent CO 2 emission and energy consumption aspects, respectively. The results show that the steel slag has a better surface texture than the natural aggregates; physical properties including compactness, flatness and compressive strength comply with the requirements for applying steel slag to a hydraulically bound mixture. Compared to the base layer using andesite aggregates, the compaction vibration period of the course containing steel slags should be reduced to achieve a proper density due to the “hard-to-hard” effect that occurs between the adjacent steel slag particles. Consequently, the additional energy and the equivalent CO 2 are generated at 2.67 MJ/m 3 and 0.20 kg/m 3 , respectively.

Keywords: steel slag; road base layer; compaction procedure; energy consumption; carbon dioxide emission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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