Use of Furnace Steel Slag for Road Construction With Rigid Pavements

Universidad técnica de Oruro, Oruro, Bolivia

 Abstract: The rigid pavement needs constant maintenance for its good preservation in an efficient, fast and economical way, meeting the needs and requirements to ensure that the rigid pavement constructions can be developed with the corresponding nature for a work, for this it is necessary to evaluate the real state of the pavements, generate a vademecum of avenues that integrate the pathologies in the concrete, in this way it will be possible to formulate the best solutions. A guideline that allows to reflect on the urgency of following a study in the construction of conventional rigid pavements, is the one located on the Oruro-Toledo highway in Bolivia, listing problems such as: (frost, increase of traffic, lack of maintenance), damaging its structure. The objective of this research is to design the proposal to use a furnace steel slag that allows the placement of a high strength concrete for a rigid pavement with which Bolivia would access the stage of reducing, reusing and recycling steel material for the design of new concrete in roads, in addition to reducing the exploitation of natural aggregates, knowing that the slag absorbs less water being a positive property to generate greater resistance. The proposal to use this new dosage is exclusively directed to the international route Oruro-Pisiga, section Oruro-Toledo, because the slag would supply for a future replacement of slab to this section in an experimental way, as in the beginning of the largest urban road project in the United States, encouraging Bolivia to improve its roads in Latin America. The outcome of this research shows that the concrete reached a compressive strength greater than 400 Kg/cm2 with 50% slag as aggregate, the design also encourages the industrialization of a Portland cement type II in Bolivia.