As of October 1, 2016, the SWUTC concluded its 28 years of operation and is no longer an active center of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. The archived SWUTC website remains available here.

You are here: Home / Technical Reports / 467310-1 Report Abstract

467310-1 Report Abstract

January 2, 1997

Implementation of the Waste and Reclaimed Materials Evaluation

Athar Saeed and W. Ronald Hudson, University of Texas at Austin, January 1997, 68 pp. (467310-1)

Large quantities of waste materials are generated in the United States every year. Due to societal and environmental concerns many states have enacted legislation to promote their use in highway construction projects. The standard approach to characterize these materials has been to evaluate them in technical laboratory studies which is not appropriate because these materials do not match natural aggregate in technical quality and may still have a high societal, environmental and economic value. A Waste and Reclaimed Materials (WRM) evaluation process has already been developed which takes into account such factors.

This WRM Evaluation process is carried out before detailed technical and economic studies are done to develop specifications for their use. The determination of their utilization potential is based on technical, economic, societal and environmental aspects. An initial screening process is also incorporated which is used to discard WRMs which clearly displays a low utilization potential. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) from decision analysis theory is used to assign weights to the four evaluation sub-systems and the respective attributes based on their relative importance.

Implementation of this system was carried out after the system was verified by detailed laboratory studies and economic analysis. All the available WRMs were subjected to this evaluation method and were ranked from the highest utilization potential to the lowest. The selected top three WRMs, reclaimed asphalt, Portland cement concrete pavement, and electric arc furnace slag, were subjected to detailed laboratory and economic analyses to determine their viability and to develop specifications for their use in roadbase construction. The WRM evaluation process, laboratory studies, and the implementation package are presented in the report.

Keywords: Waste and Reclaimed Materials (WRM), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Roadbase Construction, Technical Evaluation Sub-System, Economic Evaluation Sub-System, Societal Evaluation Sub-System, Environmental Evaluation Sub-System

Report not available electronically.
To order free hardcopy – email [email protected] 
or call (979)845-5815
Reference Report #467310-1