Long-Term Tensile Behavior of a High-Strength Geotextile after Exposure to Recycled Construction and Demolition Materials

Abstract

The use of recycled construction and demolition (C&D) materials as an alternative backfill in the construction of geosyntheticreinforced structures, such as embankments and retaining walls, has been pointed out as a sustainable and effective means of attenuating the environmental impacts associated with C&D waste disposal to landfill, while also reducing natural resource depletion. Creep is an important time-dependent mechanical property that must be considered when geosynthetics are used in reinforcement applications. In this study, a series of creep rupture tests was carried out to characterize the long-term tensile response of a high-strength geotextile typically used for soil reinforcement. To assess the potential chemical and environmental degradation induced by recycled C&D aggregates on the long-term response of this geosynthetic, the creep strain and rupture behavior of fresh specimens was compared with that of specimens that were previously exposed to recycled C&D materials and a natural soil (used as a reference) for a period of 24 months, under real environmental conditions. Test results have shown that the short-term tensile strength properties of this geotextile can be considerably reduced after exposure to the backfill materials. Conversely, for long-term conditions, the exhumed specimens led to higher estimates of the retained strength at the design lifetime, implying that the use of fresh specimens for creep rupture testing is a conservative (i.e., safe) procedure with regard to the analysis of the long-term strength of this geosynthetic. Similar effects were induced by the exposure of the geotextile to the recycled C&D material and the natural soil, which supports the feasibility of using recycled C&D aggregates as a sustainable replacement to conventional backfill materials of geosynthetic-reinforced structures.

Effect of Sustained Loading on the Direct Shear Behaviour of Recycled C&D Material–Geosynthetic Interfaces

“…Construction and demolition (C&D) was recognised as one of the priority sectors in this Circular Economy Package due to the vast amounts of C&D wastes generated across the European Union (over 35% of total waste generation), as well as their high potential for circularity. In fact, there has been increasing evidence that C&D materials can successfully be recycled and reused in a variety of civil engineering applications, such as concrete production [ 1 , 2 ], road and railway infrastructure [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ], ground improvement works [ 7 ], geosynthetic-reinforced structures [ 5 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], among others. Taking into account that the construction sector is among the main contributors to the natural resource consumption (accounting for ≈50% of all extracted materials), the incorporation of recycled materials in the construction industry could save massive amounts of natural resources and play a notable role in achieving climate neutrality.…”

Multi‐objective optimization and assessment of recycled concrete aggregates for sustainable development: Example of the Kömürhan bridge

“…Due to the enormous amounts of concrete produced, any solution that results in a small reduction in the demand for raw materials will significantly contribute to the conservation of natural resources 19,20 . For all these reasons, even replacing natural aggregates with recycled aggregates leads to conserving large amounts of natural resources 21,22 . This partial replacement provides significant environmental benefits, as it avoids landfilling and allows waste to be recycled, reduced, and reused 23,24 …”

“…19,20 For all these reasons, even replacing natural aggregates with recycled aggregates leads to conserving large amounts of natural resources. 21,22 This partial replacement provides significant environmental benefits, as it avoids landfilling and allows waste to be recycled, reduced, and reused. 23,24 The use of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) obtained from construction and demolition wastes as aggregate in concrete has attracted great interest by researchers, and thus, efforts have been made to reduce, recycle and reuse wastes.…”

Assessing and Predicting Geogrid Reduction Factors after Damage Induced by Dropping Recycled Aggregates

“…Designers must also consider essential parameters for a safe and economical design, strengthening its position as a desirable alternative [13]. In the past decades, in addition to the research evaluating the environmental and economic aspects related to using RCDW materials [20][21][22][23][24][25], several studies have reported the potential substitution of natural aggregates by RCDW materials in pavement layers [6,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] and backfill material for geosynthetic reinforced structures [8,12,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42]. However, Delongui et al [26] emphasized that the RCDW characteristics are valid for the research's specific application conditions (e.g., type of CDW generated, recycling process).…”