Prof. Dr. M. R. Nivitha has made a research on Recycling pavements for sustainable construction practice.
About the research :
India has the second largest road network in the world spanning about 66.71 lakh km most of which are bituminous roads.
A huge quantity of aggregates and bitumen are used for the construction of bituminous roads, both of which are derived from depleting natural resources.
To make the construction process sustainable, attempts are being made to reuse the excavated or milled pavement.
At the research level, numerous studies are being carried out to use the recycled material to the maximum extent possible.
Use of 30% recycled material is a common practice while researchers aim to use up to 100% recycled material. Whie studies had been commonly conducted at the laboratory scale, currently pilot projects are being implemented in the country. For instance, the Ghaziabad-Aligarh stretch of NH-34 has utilised up to 90% recycled material. Similar projects are currently being carried out in many other parts of the country.
The field performance data of such pavements are also currently being monitored. The considerable economic advantage when such recycled materials are used in new pavements encourages pavement engineers to consider maximum utilisation of recycled material in one or multiple layers of the pavement. This practice, in addition to saving cost, will create a sustainable construction ecosystem.