Development of Sustainable Cement Grout Containing Bagasse Ash for Semi-Flexible Pavement Application

Abstract

The world is moving towards a greener, more sustainable approach as we progress into this industrial world where different kinds of toxic gases are released into the atmosphere as we get our desired products manufactured. One of the biggest contributors to global warming is cement production with it being the second most used material after water. Apart from its negative effects on nature it is a raw material having high cost and uncertain price in market. Roads are an important factor in the economic contribution of a country. Only with a strong and efficient road network a country is economically able to challenge and participate in the competition others have to offer. Conventionally 2 types of pavements have existed Flexible pavements and rigid pavements. Flexible pavements famous for their premium ride quality, low cost of construction and Rigid pavements famous for their high strength durable surfacing both suffer from their own disadvantages. Flexible pavements while being good in ride quality suffer from poor design life resistance to fatigue and rutting at the same time rigid pavement while providing good strength are expensive in construction and take a lot of time. Semi-Flexible pavements are a hybrid of both these pavements while taking the strengths and durability of rigid pavement it remains a lot cheaper than rigid providing a cost bracket in between rigid and flexible offering the strength better than flexible pavements. In this study the grout used for Semi-Flexible Pavement is modified by using Bagasse Ash (waste product of sugar factories) lowering down the cost for construction and CO2 emissions. Control samples with cement and Bagasse Ash replaced samples are prepared and evaluated for Flow time, 7-Day and 28-Day Compressive strength. The data is collected and analyzed in software to get a model which helps us attain the best composition, giving us our desired strength and maximum cement replacement. Once best grout composition is achieved it is used to prepare semi-flexible samples which are evaluated for their performance compared to HMA samples for Marshal stability and fuel resistance.