Application of Analytical Hierarchy process (AHP) for environmental and technical assessment of using industrial and construction debris in road pavement layers

The efficient waste management and the environmental protection are important issues in engineering field especially in road construction. Excessive consumption of natural materials for construction and rehabilitation of roads damages the natural environment severely. Therefore, in this research, the use of excavation debris and the steel slag in the road pavement evaluated.
for this purpose, the experiments consisted of plastic and liquid limit, sand equivalent (SE), Los Angeles abrasion, soundness of aggregate and CBR test were done and the reliability of the materials was determined by several factors using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP).
Findings: The result of CBR test on debris was obtained 36.2 that indicated the quality of this debris for sub-base layer. On the other hand, the steel slag arising from electric arc furnace cannot be used alone in the pavement layer of road because of lack of adhesion properties and therefore the steel slag was mixed with adhesive materials.
Discussion and The results showed proper quality of construction debris and steel slag in road pavement by considering different factors especially environmental issues.