Slags are the final solid wastes from the steel industry. Their production from waste and associated materials is a proper implementation of the basic objectives and principles of the waste management. This study aims to investigate the chemical and selected significant geotechnical parameters of steel slag as the alternative materials used in road construction. These investigations are strongly desired for successful application in engineering. Young’s modules E, and resilient modules Mr showed that their values corresponding with requirements for subbase (principal or auxiliary) and riding surface as well. Tested mechanical properties were conducted in soaked and un-soaked (optimal moisture content) conditions. The designated high content of chromium and zinc are strongly associated with the internal crystal structure of steel slag. The results do not lead to threats when they are applied in roads’ structures. Mechanical characterization was obtained by performing California bearing ratio (CBR) tests for steel slag in fixed compaction and moisture content conditions. Moreover, cyclic loading of steel slag was conducted with the application of cyclic California bearing ratio (cCBR) apparatus to characterization of this material as a controlled low-strength material. Finally, field studies that consist of static load plate VSS tests were presented.

In this article, a study of the threshold gradient and leaching properties for recycled material, namely, recycled concrete aggregate (RCA), was conducted. The RCA in this study is a material that comes from recycling concrete debris. A series of tests in permeameter apparatus in a constant head manner were conducted. The test method has been improved to eliminate common mistakes, which occur when the constant head method is used. During the following study, aggregates with gradations equal to 0–8, 0–16, and 0.05–16 mm were tested. The tests were conducted on gradients ranging from 0.2 to 0.83. This range of tested gradients led to the evaluation of the flux velocity and indicated non-Darcian flow. For engineering applications, the threshold gradients for three RCA blends were calculated using a statistical analysis. The average coefficient of permeability, kavg, for linear flow was equal to 1.02 × 10−4–1.89 × 10−4 m/s. In this paper, suffosion analysis was also conducted for the three blends in order to eliminate the possibility of particle movement. Moreover, for RCA blend 0–16 mm, leaching properties was examined. It was found that the concentration of chlorides, sulphates, and heavy metals in the water solution does not exceed the permissible standards. This paper ends with conclusions and proposals concerning the threshold gradients obtained from the statistical analysis, suffosion analysis, and flux velocity.

Recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is a relatively new construction material, whose applications can replace natural aggregates. To do so, extensive studies on its mechanical behavior and deformation characteristics are still necessary. RCA is currently used as a subbase material in the construction of roads, which are subject to high settlements due to traffic loading. The deformation characteristics of RCA must, therefore, be established to find the possible fatigue and damage behavior for this new material. In this article, a series of triaxial cyclic loading and resonant column tests is used to characterize fatigue in RCA as a function of applied deviator stress after long-term cyclic loading. A description of the shakedown phenomenon occurring in the RCA and calculations of its resilient modulus (Mr) as a function of fatigue are also presented. Test result analysis with the stress-life method on the Wohler S-N diagram shows the RCA behavior in accordance with the Basquin law.

Soil investigations concerning cyclic loading focus on the evaluation, in particular, of design parameters, such as elastic modulus, Poisson's ratio, or resilient modulus. Structures subjected to repeated loading are vulnerable to high deformations, especially when subgrade soils are composed of cohesive, fully-saturated soils. Such subgrade soils in the eastern part of Europe have a glacial genesis and are a mix of sand, silt, and clay fractions. The characteristic of, e.g., Young modulus variation and resilient modulus from repeated loading tests, is presented. Based on performed resonant column and cyclic triaxial tests, an analytical model is proposed. The model takes into consideration actual values of effective stress p , as well as loading characteristics and the position of the effective stress path. This approach results in better characterization of pavement or industrial foundation systems based on the subgrade soil in undrained conditions. The recoverable strains characterized by the resilient modulus M r value in the first cycle of loading was between 44 MPa and 59 MPa for confining pressure σ' 3 equal to 45 kPa, and between 48 MPa and 78 MPa for σ' 3 equal to 90 kPa. During cyclic loading, cohesive soil, at first, degrades. When pore pressure reaches equilibrium, the resilient modulus value starts to increase. The above-described phenomena indicate that, after the plastic deformation caused by excessive load and excess pore water pressure dissipation, the soil becomes resilient.

Abstract:The paper presents a description of the dynamic properties of cohesive material, namely silty clays, obtained by using one of the applied seismology methods, the bender elements technique. The authors' aim was to present the dynamics of a porous medium, in particular an extremely important passage of seismic waves that travel through the bulk of a medium. Nowadays, the application of the bender element (BE) technique to measure, e.g., small strain shear stiffness of soils in the laboratory is well recognized, since it allows for reliable and relatively economical shear wave velocity measurements during various laboratory experiments. However, the accurate estimation of arrival time during BE tests is in many cases unclear. Two different interpretation procedures (from the time domain) of BE tests in order to measure travel times of waves were examined. Those values were then used to calculate shear and compression wave velocities and elastic moduli. Results showed that the dynamic parameters obtained by the start-to-start method were always slightly larger (up to about 20%) than those obtained using the peak-to-peak one. It was found that the peak-to-peak method led to more scattered results in comparison to the start-to-start method. Moreover, the influence of the excitation frequency, the mean effective stress and the unloading process on the dynamic properties of the tested material was studied. In addition, the obtained results highlighted the importance of initial signal frequency and the necessity to choose an appropriate range of frequencies to measure the shear wave velocity in clayey soils.