Evaluation of Wisconsin Aggregates for Durable and Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure

Long-term durability and sustainability of infrastructure systems are of the utmost importance. Understanding factors that affect long-term deterioration of reinforced concrete structures can help enhance these systems. More than 10 million tons of various aggregates are used annually in Wisconsin for road- and bridge-related construction projects. Aggregates are important parts of base course and pavement surface layer in asphalt and Portland cement concrete roadways. As such, long-term durability of roadways can be directly impacted by the quality of aggregates. Aggregates selected for transportation projects in Wisconsin and other northern states must be durable to withstand particularly harsh exposure conditions. Several quality control aggregate tests have long been conducted on Wisconsin aggregates during construction projects. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) has collected the test results in a database. The tests involved measured absorption (ABS) and, specific gravity (SG) for coarse (ASTM C127) and fine (ASTM C128) aggregates, Los Angeles abrasion (LAA) (ASTM C131), sodium sulfate soundness (SSS) (ASTM C88 ) and unconfined freeze-thaw (UFT) (AASHTO T 103). Utilizing standard tests such as AASHTO T27, T85, T103, T104, we will be able to reveal different aggregate properties and compare sources such as quarries and pits to find the aggregates that perform the best. By first conducting sieve analysis (ASTM T27) we can define a soil’s particle size distribution which shows how well it is graded. Then, ASTM T85 Coarse Aggregate Specific Gravity and Absorption will reveal aggregate characteristics for later analysis of the results to ASTM T103 Coarse Aggregate Soundness due to Freeze-Thaw and ASTM T104 Coarse Aggregate Soundness due to Sodium Sulfate immersion. We believe an aggregate’s soundness to both of these tests will be linked to their absorption values. Higher absorption value’s will lead to a higher degradation and vice versa