Material development for a sustainable precast concrete block pavement

Portland cement concrete (PCC) and asphalt concrete (AC) are the most common roadway and highway construction materials which are more suitable for continuous slab pavements. The durability of these materials is highly dependent on construction quality and techniques, and both materials are difficult to repair. Heavy rain storms in India have recently revealed several roadway pavement failures and resulted in significant repair costs. Interlocking block type pavements are simpler to construct and maintain than both PCC and AC pavements but, have only been used for slower traffic roads due to weak interlocking at the joints. To improve the quality of block pavements, blocks made of PCC with waste tire crumb rubber partially replacing river sand (fine aggregate) are suggested. The joint interlocks can be further improved by modifying the block geometry. The material is completely recycled and is deemed more superior than concrete pavements when repair and construction techniques and costs are concerned. This paper presents the material characterization of Rubberized Concrete Blocks (RCBs) using crumb rubber particle size ranging from 0.075 mm to 4.75 mm to partially replace the fine aggregates. It also discusses the advantages of RCB over continuous material pavements.