Dados do Trabalho

Título

EVALUATION OF BOLIVIAN LATERITIC GRAVELS AS PAVEMENT BASE MATERIAL USING ENGINEERING SPECIFICATIONS ESTABLISHED IN OTHER TROPICAL REGIONS

Resumo

The development of road infrastructure in the Bolivian Amazonia present significant technical challenges, mainly due to the scarcity of natural aggregates or crushed stones available for construction purposes. Instead, naturally occurring granular materials like lateritic gravels are abundant in this region, offering an attractive alternative for use as geomaterials in the structural layers of pavements. Thus, the present study evaluated the suitability of lateritic gravels for use as base course material through their evaluation using local Bolivian specifications, as well as two international specifications developed in tropical countries such as Brazil and Australia. For this purpose, the study evaluated 24 samples of lateritic gravels collected from various locations distributed across the Bolivian Amazon region. The evaluation involved an extensive laboratory program that integrated mechanical and geotechnical tests, as well as chemical and mineralogical analyses. The evaluation results highlight that the current local specification of ABC is restrictive. Moreover, the specifications from Brazil and Australia demonstrate greater relaxations in the requirements of geotechnical and mechanical parameters. Finally, the results of this study strongly support and recommend the development of local specifications for selecting lateritic gravels for their application as base course material for pavements.

Palavras-chave

Lateritic gravels; pavement base; tropical soils; characterization; compaction.

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