Dottorato Di Ricerca the Use of Sardinian Granite By
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Università degli Studi di Cagliari DOTTORATO DI RICERCA Ingegneria Strutturale Ciclo XXVI THE USE OF SARDINIAN GRANITE BY‐PRODUCTS FROM THE SARRABUS‐GERREI REGION TO BE USED IN ROAD PAVEMENT LAYERS Settore scientifico disciplinare di afferenza ICAR /04 James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers II James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers REGIONE AUTONOMA DELLA SARDEGNA James Rombi gratefully acknowledges Sardinia Regional Government for the financial support of his PhD scholarship (P.O.R. Sardegna F.S.E. Operational Programme of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia, European Social Fund 2007-2013 Axis IV Human Resources, Objective l.3, Line of Activity l.3.1.) III James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers To my dear family for the love and support…… IV James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers V James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost I wish to acknowledge the supervision provided by Prof. Mauro Coni and Dr. Silvia Portas, they have always been generous with time and have constantly been on hand to provide guidance and inspiration when needed. I also wish to thank them together with Prof. Cristina Trois for arranging my stay at the University of KwaZulu- Natal (Durban). Secondly I am very grateful to Dr. Stefano Naitza, that without the enthusiastic technical input provided, I could not have completed the preliminary petrographic testing analysis. Many thanks to the technicians of the Geotechnical Laboratory of the province of Cagliari, Mr. Gianni Vacca, Mr. Marco Diana and Dr. Carlo Piroddi for their precious technical input provided during all the test campaign. Also I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Salvatore Pistis, director of the Geotechnical Laboratory of the Province of Cagliari, for his advices and numerous discussions during the work. I am particularly grateful to my colleagues Andreina Etzi, Alessio Contu and Franco Pigozzi, with whom I have shared many enjoyable times. To Marta for her love, understanding and constant encouragement. To my parents for their patient support during these years, I am grateful for the support that you have given me. March 2014 James Rombi VI James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers VII James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers TABLE OF CONTENT TABLE OF FIGURES ...................................................................................... 5 LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................... 11 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... 13 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 15 1.1 Aims & Objectives ............................................................................. 18 1.2 Thesis Layout ..................................................................................... 19 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 21 2.1 Possible Use of By-Products Deriving from Excavation Processes .. 21 2.2 European and Italian Waste Regulations ............................................ 23 2.3 Sardinian Regional Government: Guidelines on the Possible Use of Scraps Deriving from Marble and Granite Quarries .................................... 27 2.4 Unbound Layers ................................................................................. 29 2.5 Hydraulic Bound Layers ..................................................................... 33 2.6 Bitumen Bound Layers ....................................................................... 34 2.6.1 Theories and Mechanisms of Adhesion ....................................... 34 2.7 Digital Image Processing .................................................................... 39 3. METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES .............................................. 41 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................ 41 3.2 Selection of the Case Study ................................................................ 41 3.3 Preliminary Characterization .............................................................. 42 3.4 Characterization of Granite By-Products for the Correct Use in Road Pavement Layers .......................................................................................... 43 1 James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers 3.5 The Use of Image Analysis ................................................................ 43 4. SARDINIAN GRANITOIDS ROCKS AND THEIR EXPLOTATION . 45 4.1 Introduction to the Geology of Sardinia ............................................. 45 4.2 Sardinian Granitoids Rocks ................................................................ 47 4.3 Sarrabus-Gerrei Geological Region ................................................... 50 4.4 Exploitation of Sardinian Granitoids .................................................. 52 5. CASE STUDY GRANITE BY-PRODUCTS FROM TUNNELING WORKS .......................................................................................................... 58 6. LABORATORY TESTS ON GRANITE BY-PRODUCTS TO BE USED IN ROAD PAVEMENT LAYERS ................................................................. 64 6.1 Material Used in Test Campaign ........................................................ 64 6.2 Environmental Compatibility ............................................................. 71 6.2.1 Leaching tests ............................................................................... 71 6.2.2 Leachate analysis .......................................................................... 74 6.3 Test on granite by-products to be used in unbound granular layers .. 78 6.4 Test on granite by-products to be used in hydraulic bound layers ..... 97 6.5 Tests and granite by-products to be used in bitumen bond layers ... 104 6.6 Affinity between granite by-products and bitumen .......................... 112 6.7 The use of adhesion promoters to increase bonding between bitumen and granite aggregates ................................................................................ 118 7. DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING ......................................................... 121 7.1 Introduction to image processing ..................................................... 121 7.1.1 Image acquisition ....................................................................... 123 7.2 Possible use of image processing to evaluate stripping test values . 124 2 James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers 7.2.1 Software image processing features ........................................... 126 7.2.2 Analysis on images obtained using CAD software .................... 131 7.2.3 Image analysis on real objects .................................................... 137 7.3 Digital image processing to evaluate stripping test values .............. 141 7.4 Possible use of image processing to understand parameters that influence adhesion phenomena .................................................................. 143 7.4.1 Methodology of thin section preparation ................................... 144 7.4.2 Image acquisition ....................................................................... 147 7.4.3 Image processing and measurements ......................................... 149 7.4.4 Data processing and results ........................................................ 152 8. CRITICAL DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS ............................... 161 8.1 Environmental compatibility ............................................................ 161 8.2 Unbound layers ................................................................................. 162 8.3 Hydraulic bound layers ..................................................................... 163 8.4 Affinity between bitumen and granite by-products .......................... 163 8.5 The use of digital image analysis ..................................................... 164 9. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ...................... 165 REFERENCES .............................................................................................. 166 3 James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers 4 James Rombi - The use of Sardinian granite by-products from the Sarrabus-Gerrei region to be used in road pavement layers TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1. Flowchart for the commercialization of granite and marble ........... 28 Figure 2. Aggregate shape properties ............................................................. 30 Figure 3. Contact angle between liquid and solid ........................................... 36 Figure 4. Geodynamic context of the study area in the frame of Corsica- Sardinia anticlockwise block rotation and Liguro-Provençal basin