Laboratory evaluation of recycled construction and demolition waste for pavements

► 16,000 tons of solid wastes from civil construction are produced daily in São Paulo. ► Lab tests show similar behavior of RCDW aggregate and a standard granular material. ► Proper compaction energy increases the breakage of RCDW aggregate and its resistance. ► Permanent deformation is one of the main problems of the RCDW aggregate. ► RCDW aggregate may be utilized as coarse base and sub-base layer for low-volume roads. The wide production of construction and demolition waste and its illegal deposition are serious current problems in Brazil. This research proposes to evaluate the feasibility of using aggregate from recycled construction and demolition waste (RCDW) in pavement applications. A laboratory program was conducted by geotechnical characterization, bearing capacity and repeated load triaxial tests. The results show that the composition and the compactive effort influence on the physical characteristics of the RCDW aggregate. The compaction process has promoted a partial crushing and breakage of RCDW particles, changing the grain-size distribution and increasing the percentage of cubic grains. This physical change contributes to a better densification of the RCDW aggregate and consequently an improvement in bearing capacity, resilient modulus and resistance to permanent deformation. The results have shown that the RCDW aggregate may be utilized as coarse base and sub-base layer for low-volume roads.