The increasing need to recycle more wastes and reduce the use of landfills is forcing reconsideration of potential uses of recycled glass aggregates in pavement construction. In addition, in cold regions, adequate thermal design of pavement relies on a good prediction of the thermal regime in the road structure. While the mechanical and hydraulic performances of recycled glass aggregates (VPC) in roadwork applications are well documented, the thermal aspect is on the contrary almost unexplored. Yet, glass is known for its insulating properties and aggregates or aggregate mixtures with low thermal conductivity can help decrease the depth of frost penetration.
An experimental study was aimed to evaluate the thermal properties of VPC blended with natural aggregate. In this work, we present the results of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurement on different VPC and natural aggregates blends. The assessment included the influence of particle size, moisture content and glass content. At given moisture content, thermal conductivity of VPC and natural aggregates decreased with increasing particle size. The results also showed that an increase of water content in any of the studied material increased its thermal conductivity but at different rates depending on the VPC content. Based on these experimental results, the impact of a VPC layer on the thermal regime of a pavement structure was also studied using finite difference method. This phase of the research work consisted in analysing the frost penetration depth according to different VPC layer tickness and position in the pavement structure.
Berraha, Y. (Author),
Vaillancourt (Supervisor) &
Perraton (Co-supervisor),
19 May 2017Student thesis: Master's thesis › Master in Engineering: Construction Engineering