Abstract:
The use of Construction and Demolition Recycled Materials (C&DRM) in road pavements
is envisaged as a solution with environmental and economic benefits. Their application as
unbound granular materials in pavement layers (base, sub-base and capping layers) also
has the advantage to allow the incorporation of large quantities of those materials, from
different origins.
The generalised application of C&DRM in road construction is however still limited by
some knowledge gaps, deriving from the lack of information concerning the mechanical
and environmental performance of these materials and from the limited experience with
their practical application in road construction.
A research project, SUPREMA, aiming to contribute to the sustainable implementation of
C&DRM in road pavements, by improving the knowledge concerning the mechanical and
environmental behaviour of these materials when placed as aggregates in unbound
pavement layers, is being developed by the National Laboratory for Civil Engineering
(LNEC), in cooperation with Technical University of Lisbon (IST), over three years.
This paper discusses the detailed objectives and methodology of the research project
and presents some of its early results, in particular the ones concerning the C&DRM
potential pollution.
