Effect of construction and demolition waste (CDW) addition on the hydromechanical properties of a sandy-clayey soil

ABSTRACT As the production of solid waste resulting from human actions, such as Construction and Demolition Waste (CDW), has continually increased, proper disposal of these materials has become critically important, because when improperly disposed, they degrade the environment and contribute to the proliferation of disease vectors. The construction industry has also faced difficulties in searching for areas with soils suitable for use in engineering projects, leading to efforts to improve soils having unsatisfactory characteristics. This study aims to analyze the influence of recycled CDW aggregates on the hydromechanical properties of clay-sand soil at different substitution levels (10, 20, and 30%). To achieve this, the materials used were submitted to a variety of laboratory tests: physical characterization, normal Proctor energy compaction, microstructural characterization, direct shear, and permeability of the compacted samples under optimum compaction conditions. The results show that for the soil used, the addition of recycled CDW aggregate reduces its fine fractions and plasticity, interferes minimally in the real specific weight, decreases the optimal humidity by up to 2%, with a low variation of the apparent dry specific weight, keeps within the range of values for the resistance parameters, and increase in the hydraulic coefficient of the soil by more than 13 times. The differences in hydraulic behavior can be explained by observed changes in the microstructure of the samples.