Construction and Building Materials 157 (2017) 647–653

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Replication studies paper

Application of reclaimed basic oxygen furnace slag asphalt pavement in

road base aggregate
Shih-Huang Chen a, Deng-Fong Lin b, Huan-Lin Luo b,⇑, Zi-Yang Lin b
a
Department of Civil Engineering, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 32001, Taiwan, ROC
b
Department of Civil and Ecological Engineering, I-Shou University, No.1, Sec. 1, Syuecheng Rd., Dashu District, Kaohsiung City 84001, Taiwan, ROC

h i g h l i g h t s

Reuse reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) contained basic oxygen furnace (BOF).

It is feasible to apply the RAP BOF slag to base or subbase layer of pavement.

The optimum amount of RAP BOF slag is suggested in this study.

Help solve the environmental problems produced by the RAP BOF slag.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study, natural aggregates were replaced with reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) from a basic oxy-
Received 27 May 2017 gen furnace (BOF) and applied to the base or subbase of roads. The effects of using different levels of RAP
Received in revised form 14 September BOF to replace the natural aggregates on the properties of the road were investigated. Mixtures of natural
2017
aggregates with different contents of RAP BOF (containing 60% BOF slag) aggregates were used, and the
Accepted 21 September 2017
Available online 10 October 2017
results indicate that using a RAP BOF aggregate content up to 40% in the road base satisfies the require-
ments for the California bearing ratio (CBR) and expansion ratios. The study suggests that the optimal RAP
BOF aggregate replacement content is 20%.
Keywords:
Base layer
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Basic oxygen furnace (BOF) slag
Expansion
Reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)

1. Introduction
The natural resources on Earth are extremely limited and are
gradually becoming scarce. Hence, resource recycling technology
is becoming increasingly used in applications in various engineer-
ing fields. Half of the island of Taiwan is occupied by mountains,
and Taiwan has limited geographic resources that can be used in
different areas. Moreover, to improve the quality of life of Taiwan’s
inhabitants by developing the economy, the steel manufacturing
industry has been steadily growing and providing basic materials
for civilian and public construction in Taiwan. Consequently, the
steel industry generates many byproducts such as basic oxygen
furnace (BOF) slag, of which more than one hundred thousand tons
per year are produced. As stated above, Taiwan is an island that
lacks sufficient land to properly dispose of the BOF slags. Such
waste could also cause serious environmental impacts on the
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: hlluo@isu.edu.tw (H.-L. Luo).
island. Hence, the central and local governments are working
together to find appropriate recycling applications for BOF slag in
the fields of pavement engineering, marine engineering, and
geotechnical engineering. Although BOF slags have been applied
to various types of asphalt concrete (AC), studies regarding the
application of BOF slag in AC are still limited. Moreover, to reduce
the impact of BOF slag on the environment, applying BOF slag
within the base or subbase of road pavement may provide part
of the solution. This study was proposed and developed consider-
ing the background stated above. We hope that a win-
win situation can be created by utilizing recycled materials, such
as BOF slags, for engineering applications while protecting the
environment of Taiwan. BOF slag has successfully been applied in
pavement engineering, and surprisingly good performance has
been obtained using AC pavement mixtures. Yuan [1] used BOF
steel slag to design a porous asphalt mix and found that the
amount of asphalt binder was not affected by the increasing degree
of BOF slag replacement and that the properties of the porous
asphalt containing BOF slag met the requirements of the existing

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.09.136
0950-0618/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
648 S.-H. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 157 (2017) 647–653
standards. Moreover, the increased amount of BOF slag in the por-
ous asphalt improved the rutting and surface friction resistances
and lowered the noise and number of voids. Huang [2] used BOF
slag to replace 100% of the natural coarse aggregates in hot mix
AC. He found that the BOF slag replacement did not reduce the
number of voids in the mineral aggregate (VMA). The durability
of the hot mix asphalt was not affected by the reduction in the
amount of VMA. Moreover, the rolling compaction energy required
by the AC with BOF slag replacement was less than that required
by conventional AC. Chen et al. [3] also studied the volumetric
properties and performance of AC after replacing 100% of its coarse
natural aggregates with BOF slag. Based on the results obtained
from the mixture design, the film thicknesses of the asphalt binder
ranged from 6 to 9 lm, and the durability of the AC was not
affected by this insufficient film thickness. The authors suggested,
according to the results of the mixture design and the performance
tests, that it is feasible to replace 100% of the coarse natural aggre-
gates in AC with BOF slag for pavement engineering applications.
Chen et al. [4] studied the possible applications of using BOF slag
containing honeycomb particles (CHS) in asphalt mixtures. The test
results showed that when honeycomb slag replaced the coarse
aggregates in asphalt mixtures, the asphalt content increased,
and the rutting, crack and moisture resistance decreased. Amir
et al. [5] studied the long-term fatigue behavior of asphalt mixes
containing BOF and electric arc furnace (EAF) steel slag and found
that the specimens with both BOF and EAF slag included exhibited
improved fatigue life. Furthermore, the mitigation of aging in the
asphalt mixes was improved with the inclusion of EAF slag, provid-
ing better adhesion in the asphalt mixes. Haritonovs et al. [6]
replaced conventional coarse and fine aggregates with BOF slag
and local dolomite sand waste during the manufacture of high-
performance AC and found that the AC specimens containing BOF
slag and dolomite sand waste exhibited greater resistance to plas-
tic deformation and fatigue failure. Lin et al. [7] compared test
roads constructed with natural aggregate AC with test roads con-
structed with BOF slag AC. After two years of consecutive in situ
test performances, they found that the quality of service of the
BOF slag AC pavement was better than that of the conventional
AC pavement. Moreover, the rutting resistance of the pavement
to heavy-load vehicles and the parameters acquired from the Mar-
shall mix design, such as the tensile strength ratio and resilient
modulus, for the BOF slag AC were better than those for the con-
ventional AC. However, the authors also recommended that the
limit values for the parameters in the Marshall mix design that
apply to BOF slag AC undergo further review.
The hydration expansion of BOF slag limits its engineering
applications. Deniz et al. [8] studied the expansion properties of
RAP materials, including recycled steel slag aggregates and virgin
aggregates, and evaluated their potential use as pavement base
materials in Illinois. According the results of this study, compared
to virgin steel slag, the RAP materials had a lower tendency to
expand due to the effective asphalt film coating on the aggregate
surface. Kambole et al. [9] indicated that most southern African
specifications do not allow BOF slag to be incorporated within
pavement due to the observed pavement performance problems
influenced by a few of the chemical components in BOF slag. When
using BOF slag in road pavement, it is necessary to assess and mon-
itor the large volume expansions that can occur and the heavy
metals that are present. Dayioglu et al. [10] evaluated steel slag
that was coated with asphalt cement, and the slag was mixed with
water treatment residuals at various weight percentages; this pro-
cess is a popular treatment for using steel slags in highway base
and subbase layers. Lee [11] studied methods to suppress the
expansion of BOF slag and found that the compaction energy of
the BOF slag and the California bearing ratio (CBR) values had a
logarithmic relationship. Under this relationship and based on
the construction specifications, the compaction energy could be
adjusted to 14.66 kg-cm/cm3 to satisfy the requirements set for
the pavement. Moreover, he suggested that by adding 10% of
ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), the BOF slag could
help compact the structure and reduce the permeability of the slag
to effectively suppress swelling after the slag and GGBFS under-
went hydration and pozzolanic reactions. Chen [12] proposed five
test methods to suppress BOF slag swelling: the water content
change method, hollow improved method, sodium sulfate method,
cut-back asphalt method, and mudstone mixed method. Among
the different methods, the cut-back asphalt method induced
volatilization after seven days and the mudstone mixed method
mixed with 40% mudstone produced the best results in terms of
mitigating the swelling behavior of the BOF slag. To study the influ-
ence of hydration and the addition of silicone resin on the behavior
of asphalt mixtures containing BOF slag, Chen et al. [13] studied
three types of slags: newly crushed BOF slag (NCS), fully hydrated
BOF slag (FHS), and combined BOF slag modified with hydration
and silicone resin (HSS). They found that FHS retained pores with
sizes between 20 and 30 lm and HSS would lower the asphalt con-
tent to an acceptable level in the asphalt mixture. Moreover, the
HSS improved the volume stability of the NCS. The test results
showed that HMA with HSS had a higher thermal conductivity
and thermal diffusivity and a smaller specific heat than HMA with
NCS.
Andrés-Valeri et al. [14] applied BOF slag in subbase aggregates
to construct parking bays in northern Spain to study the water
quality and appropriateness of using BOF slag in pervious pave-
ment. The authors proved the suitability of using BOF slags as a
subbase material in pervious pavement and as a storage medium
for penetrated storm water. Moreover, they suggested that water
stored in pervious pavement containing BOF slag aggregates as a
subbase layer can be applied for industrial, recreational, and envi-
ronmental purposes. Blanco et al. [15] used BOF steel slag aggre-
gates as a substrate for the construction of wetlands and
investigated the removal mechanism and amount of phosphate
in the BOF steel slag. The test results showed that the use of BOF
steel slag yielded phosphate removal efficiencies of 84–99% and
phosphate removal capacities of 0.12–8.78 mg P/g slag.
It is common to apply the reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP)
obtained from conventional AC to base or subbase courses. Taha
et al. [16] mixed Type I Portland cement with RAP for the treat-
ment of the soft base or subbase courses. The test results showed
that the strengths of the specimens increased with the increase
in the amount of natural aggregates, the amount of cement and
the curing time. However, they suggested that 100% RAP itself
should not be applied to the base or subbase courses, unless
cement was added as a stabilization treatment. Guthrie et al. [17]
used mixes of cement and RAP as a stabilization treatment for base
courses. The test results showed that the unconfined compressive
strength decreased from 425 to 208 psi and the final dielectric
value decreased from 14.9 to 6.1 as the RAP aggregate replacement
increased from 0 to 100%. Liao [18] applied RAP aggregates as a
road base material to investigate the relationship between the
amount of RAP and the CBR. The authors found that when it rained,
the base course easily became saturated when a large amount of
RAP was used, increasing the possibility of damage to the road
base. He suggested that the amount of RAP replacement used in
the road base should not exceed 40%. Jian [19] studied road bases
containing RAP aggregates stabilized by cement. The test results
showed that the CBR value decreased with an increase in the
amount of RAP. However, the CBR values were improved by adding
different amounts of cement in the road bases. He suggested that
the effect of adding RAP was improved by adding various contents
of cement to the base. Ayan [20] studied the feasibility of using
recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) together with RAP in unbound
 S.-H. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 157 (2017) 647–653
subbase mixtures. The test results showed that when 100% natural
aggregates were replaced by RCA, the optimal moisture content
(OMC) increased, and the maximum dry density and CBR values
decreased in the subbase mixtures. However, a comparison
between the results of the 50% RAP + 50% RCA replacement and
the 100% RCA replacement with the natural aggregates suggested
that the 50% RAP + 50% RCA replacement was not suitable for
application with the subbase course based on the reduction in
the CBR values.
The application of BOF slag within AC pavement has been
extensively investigated. It is now important to establish a suitable
way to recycle BOF slag in RAP. After the long-term use of BOF slag
AC pavement, the pavement becomes aged and damaged. To recy-
cle the RAP BOF slag generated from repaving the pavement, this
study assesses the possible application of RAP BOF slag aggregates
within base or subbase course materials. However, the hydration
expansion of either BOF or RAP BOF slag is an important issue that
is relevant to engineering applications and to this study. Thus, this
study aims to find the optimum application to overcome the issue
of hydration expansion while satisfying the requirements for the
bearing capacity set by the standards.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
The RAP BOF slag was obtained from in situ excavated pavement. The content of
BOF in the AC pavement was set to 40% and 60% for different application areas. In
this study, the RAP containing 60% BOF slag was applied to replace a portion of the
natural aggregates. After being crushed in a local mixing plant, the RAP BOF slag
was sieved into three groups based on the particle size—coarse, medium-coarse
(medium), and fine. The asphalt content of the coarse, medium, and fine RAP BOF
aggregates was measured following the standard of ASTM D6307-16, Standard Test
Method for Asphalt Content of Asphalt Mixture by Ignition Method. Table 1 shows
the results of the sieve analysis for the RAP BOF aggregates and natural aggregates.
Moreover, specific gravity and water absorption tests were performed according to
the CNS487 A3006 and CNS488 A3007 standards, respectively, and the test results
for the RAP BOF aggregates and natural aggregates are shown in Table 2. The speci-
fic gravities of the coarse, medium, and fine RAP BOF aggregates were 3.03, 2.67,
and 2.37, respectively. Because the specific gravities of the BOF slags, natural aggre-
gates, and conventional AC were 3.4, 2.58–2.64, and 2.35, respectively, the coarse
RAP BOF aggregates contained the highest amount of BOF slags, followed by the
medium and fine RAP BOF aggregates.
Table 3 shows the asphalt encapsulation efficiency of the RAP BOF aggregates.
The asphalt encapsulation efficiencies of the coarse and medium RAP BOF aggre-
gates were 38.1% and 43.9%, respectively, indicating that the impact of the milling
or breaking process of the RAP BOF slag on the coarse aggregates was larger than
that on the medium aggregates. Moreover, the milling process itself could degrade
the aggregates. The asphalt content of the coarse, medium, and fine RAP BOF aggre-
gates was 3.90, 3.80, and 5.70%, respectively. The asphalt contents in the coarse and
medium RAP BOF aggregates were similar to each other; however, the fine RAP BOF
aggregates had a higher asphalt content.
Regarding the asphalt encapsulation efficiency of the coarse RAP BOF, the BOF
aggregates were better at absorbing the asphalt binder and exhibited better
antistripping properties than the natural aggregates. However, because of the
milling process, more broken aggregates were observed for the medium RAP BOF,
and hence, a large amount of asphalt remained in the medium RAP BOF aggregates.
Table 1
The results of the sieve analysis for RAP BOF aggregates and natural aggregates.
Particle size RAP BOF passing percentage (%)
Coarse Medium
1 1/200 100.0 100.0
100 100.0 100.0
3/400 89.0 100.0
3/800 69.5 84.5
#4 54.0 49.3
#10 42.5 26.1
#30 17.0 9.8
#40 15.2 7.4
#200 4.7 1.1
Bottom tray 0.0 0.0
649
Hence, the asphalt content and encapsulation efficiency of the medium RAP BOF
aggregates were higher than those of the coarse RAP BOF aggregates. Fig. 1
(a) and (b) show the RAP BOF aggregates before and after removing the asphalt bin-
der, respectively. The asphalt-encapsulated aggregates can be clearly observed
before and after the removal of the asphalt in these images. Moreover, a large
amount of natural sand was observed in the aged broken asphalt blocks after
removing the asphalt. As shown in Fig. 1(b), there were more pores in the BOF slag
(on the right side and highlighted with a red circle) than in the natural aggregates
(on the left side). The asphalt with the BOF slag was difficult to remove (highlighted
with a yellow rectangle) because the slag absorbed more asphalt. After removing
the asphalt, the RAP BOF slag was sieved using a magnetic separation procedure
to obtain coarse, medium, and fine aggregates with contents of 59.28%, 42.39%,
and 31.67%, respectively. These results indicated that the content of BOF slag
decreased with the decrease in the particle size of the RAP BOF slag, as stated above.
2.2. Mix design
In this study, tests related to the mix design were performed following the pub-
lic construction guide specifications set by the Public Construction Commission,
Executive Yuan, Taiwan, Republic of China. The following specifications were used:
Chapter 02726: Graded Aggregate Materials for Base Course and Chapter 02722:
Graded Aggregate Materials for Type II Base Course and Type IV Subbase Course.
The natural aggregates in the base or subbase courses were proposed to have 0,
20, 40, and 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement. The amount of RAP BOF replace-
ment was based on the weight ratio in this study. The 0% replacement group was
treated as the control group. Fig. 2 shows the particle size distribution curves for
the gradations with different levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement. After
milling, the RAP BOF aggregates were sieved into three groups according to their
particle size (coarse, medium, and fine). During the storage and transportation pro-
cesses, collisions among the RAP BOF aggregates or aggregates stripped off from
aged RAP produced fine aggregates in those three groups. There were typically more
fine aggregates in the RAP BOF aggregates than in the natural aggregates. Moreover,
the amount of fine aggregates increased with the increase in the RAP BOF aggregate
replacement amount.
2.3. Tests
Compaction tests were performed according to the AASHTO T180 standard to
determine the maximum dry density and OMC of the base or subbase courses.
The CBR test was performed based on the ASTM D1883 standard, and the bearing
capacity of the base or subbase courses with different levels of RAP BOF aggregate
replacement was determined. Expansion testing was performed according to CNS
15311. CNS 15311 provides a standard test method for steel slags and other mate-
rials for base or subbase courses to determine the potential aggregate expansion
during hydration reactions. The test method followed CNS 12382 for measuring
the volume expansion of the compacted specimens. To accelerate the hydration
reaction, the specimens were immersed in water with a temperature of
(70 ± 3) °C for at least 7 days. The maximum allowable expansion ratio was 0.5%.
In general, a relative compaction of 95% was required for the in situ base or sub-
base courses. After drawing a horizontal line across the compaction curve at 95% of
the maximum dry density, two sets of moisture content were produced, the dry
optimum and wet optimum, which yielded the same dry density at the same com-
paction level with different moisture contents in the compaction curve, as shown in
Fig. 3. Ramesh et al. [21] suggested that during the compaction process, the dry and
wet optimum moisture contents at 95% of the maximum dry density should be
selected when manufacturing specimens because the moisture in the specimens
could affect the structure of the particles. Then, the bearing capacities of these spec-
imens can be compared to those of the specimens manufactured with the OMC. The
current study applied the method suggested by Ramesh to simulate in situ com-
Natural aggregates passing percentage (%)
Fine Coarse Medium Sand
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
100.0 92.5 100.0 100.0
100.0 83.7 100.0 100.0
99.1 1.2 81.8 100.0
90.6 0.8 28.4 99.2
62.8 0.6 15.2 82.5
35.3 0.5 1.2 66.5
25.3 0.4 0.8 7.8
10.9 0.3 0.7 2.5
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
650 S.-H. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 157 (2017) 647–653

Table 2
The test results of specific gravity and water absorption for RAP BOF aggregates and natural aggregates.

Materials Coarse Medium Fine Natural coarse aggregate Natural medium aggregate Natural sand
RAP BOF RAP BOF RAP BOF
Specific gravity 3.03 2.66 2.37 2.62 2.58 2.64
Water absorption (%) 0.93 1.0 1.04 1.14 1.22 2.13

Table 3
The asphalt encapsulation efficiency of RAP BOF aggregates.

RAP BOF Coarse Medium

Test run 1 2 1 2
Encapsulation efficiency (%) 36.5 39.7 42.2 45.6
Average encapsulation efficiency (%) 38.1 43.9

Fig. 1. The coarse RAP BOF aggregates (a) before and (b) after removing the asphalt binder. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 2. The particle size distribution curves for gradations at different levels of RAP
BOF aggregate replacement.
Fig. 3. The relationship between moisture content and dry density ([21]).

paction for specimens with different levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement. The
influence of the moisture content on the bearing capacity is discussed in the follow-
ing section.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Compaction test
Fig. 4 shows the results of the compaction tests for the speci-
mens with natural aggregates replaced with 0, 20, 40, and 60%
RAP BOF aggregates. As shown in the figure, the maximum dry
densities for 0, 20, 40, and 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement
were 2.32, 2.32, 2.35, and 2.45 g/cm3, respectively. Because the
specific gravity of the BOF slag was higher than that of the natural
aggregates, the amount of natural aggregates replaced by the RAP
BOF aggregates increased for a given volume and compaction
energy in the specimens. Hence, the maximum dry density
increased with an increasing level of RAP BOF aggregate replace-
ment in the specimens. Moreover, the OMCs for the specimens
with 0, 20, 40, and 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement were 7,
6.1, 4.9, and 6.4%, respectively. Because the RAP BOF aggregates
 S.-H. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 157 (2017) 647–653
Fig. 4. The results of the compaction test for specimens with natural aggregates
replaced by 0, 20, 40, and 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement.
contained asphalt that would not absorb water, the OMCs for the
specimens with different levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement
were smaller than those of the control group. Furthermore,
because the pore ratio of the BOF slag was higher than that of
the natural aggregates, more residual water was generated when
the amount of the RAP BOF aggregate replacement reached a cer-
tain level. Hence, the OMC of the specimens with 60% RAP BOF
aggregate replacement was higher than that of the specimens with
20 and 40% RAP BOF aggregate replacement.
3.2. Expansion test
The BOF slag has the potential to expand during hydration reac-
tions. Hence, expansion tests must be performed when applying
RAP BOF aggregates to replace natural aggregates. Fig. 5 shows
the results of the expansion tests for specimens with different
levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement. After being immersed
in water for 7 days, the expansion ratios for specimens with 20,
40, and 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement were 0.38, 0.47, and
0.55%, respectively. The specification requires that the expansion
ratio not be larger than 0.50%. Hence, the expansion ratio of the
20 and 40% RAP BOF aggregate replacements satisfied the require-
ment, but that of the 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement did not.
As shown in the figure, the expansion ratio increased with an
increase in the level of RAP BOF aggregate replacement. Because
of the lower degree of compatibility between the natural coarse
aggregates and RAP BOF aggregates, which led to relatively poor
interlocking among the aggregates after they were mixed and com-
pacted, relatively large pores were produced among the different
aggregates, resulting in a large space for the RAP BOF slag to
expand without increasing the expansion ratios during the initial
immersion period. Hence, for the specimens with 20 and 40%
RAP BOF aggregate replacement, the initial expansion ratios
increased slowly at the beginning of the tests. Then, after the pores
were gradually filled by the expanded BOF slag, the rate of expan-
Fig. 5. The results of expansion tests for specimens with different levels of RAP BOF
aggregate replacement.
651
sion increased after being immersed for 3 days. However, for the
case of specimens with 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement, a
large proportion of the natural aggregates was replaced by the
RAP BOF aggregates, and the BOF slags were uniformly distributed
in the specimens with a higher degree of compatibility among the
aggregates. The pores among the aggregates were small after being
compacted, reducing the amount of space for the BOF slags to
expand during the initial immersion period. As a result, the rate
of initial expansion increased rapidly. Then, the rate slowly
increased after a certain period of immersion and certain expan-
sion ratio was reached.
3.3. CBR test
After the OMCs of the specimens with different levels of RAP
BOF aggregate replacement were obtained, CBR tests were per-
formed. Fig. 6 shows the CBR values of the specimens with differ-
ent levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement. The CBR values for 0,
20, 40, and 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement were 87.16,
152.49, 89.12, and 76.8%, respectively. Among them, the CBR
strength was obtained by the specimens with 20% RAP BOF aggre-
gate replacement. Although the BOF slag in the RAP was harder
than that of the natural aggregates, the BOF slag was largely occu-
pied in the coarse RAP BOF aggregates; the medium and fine RAP
BOF aggregates mainly contained fractured natural aggregates
and broken pieces of aged asphalt, and their bearing capacities
were smaller than that of the fresh natural aggregates. When the
mixtures with different levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement
were mixed under the same volume, the bearing capacity
decreased with the increasing levels of medium and fine RAP
BOF aggregate replacement. Hence, the CBR value decreased with
an increase in the level of RAP BOF aggregate replacement. More-
over, the CBRs of the specimens with 40% RAP replacement were
similar to that of the control group. However, the specimens with
60% RAP BOF replacement had a smaller CBR than that of the con-
trol group and did not meet the requirement set for the base
course. In summary, the CBR values of the specimens with 0, 20,
and 40% RAP BOF replacement met the requirements set for the
base or subbase courses, and the CBR values of the specimens with
60% RAP BOF replacement met the requirements set for the sub-
base course.
3.4. CBRs of the dry and wet OMC
Fig. 7 shows the CBR values of the dry and wet OMC for the
specimens containing different levels of RAP BOF aggregate
replacement. As shown in the figure, the CBR values of the OMC,
dry OMC and wet OMC for the control group were 87.16, 89.65,
and 80.64%, respectively; those for the specimens with 20% RAP
BOF aggregate replacement were 138.63, 143.22, and 127.81%,
Fig. 6. The CBR values for specimens with different levels of RAP BOF aggregate
replacement.
652 S.-H. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 157 (2017) 647–653
Fig. 7. The CBR values of dry and wet OMC for specimens containing different levels
of RAP BOF aggregate replacement.
respectively; those for the specimens with 40% RAP BOF aggregate
replacement were 104.12, 107.66, and 98.46%, respectively; and
those for the specimens with 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement
were 76.8, 78.15, and 62.88%, respectively. Based on the CBR values
shown above, when the compaction reached 95% of the maximum
dry density, the CBR values were slightly higher than the values at
the OMC when the applied moisture was less than the dry OMC
during the compaction process. However, the CBR values were
lower when the amount of moisture applied exceeded the wet
OMC during the compaction process. Moreover, because the fine
aggregates absorbed less moisture and fewer pores were filled by
the moisture in the specimens, it was difficult to expel the addi-
tional moisture after applying the compaction energy. As a result,
the CBR values were slightly improved when the moisture in the
specimens was less than the OMC. In contrast, when the moisture
in the specimens was higher than the OMC, the moisture easily
filled the pores in the specimens. The additional moisture was
expelled to the surface of the specimens after applying the com-
paction energy. Hence, a lower amount of compaction energy
was transmitted, and the compactness of the aggregate was
reduced, leading to a decrease in the bearing capacity of the spec-
imens. This finding suggests that the mixture contained a maxi-
mum amount of aggregates when the OMC of the specimens was
applied, but the bearing capacity of the specimens may not have
been maximized. Hence, moisture control is important during
in situ construction. The additional moisture may make it difficult
to fully transmit the compaction energy to the mixture located in
the lower layer. As a result, the final bearing capacity of a specimen
may not satisfy the requirement set by the standards.
3.5. Permeability tests
Permeability tests were performed to investigate the effects of
different levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement on the drainage
ability of base or subbase courses. Fig. 8 shows the coefficients of
Fig. 8. The coefficients of permeability for specimens containing different levels of
RAP BOF aggregate replacement.
Fig. 9. The relation between the shear stress and normal stress of the specimens
with natural fine sand replaced by different levels of RAP BOF fine aggregate
replacement.
permeability for specimens containing different levels of RAP BOF
aggregate replacement. The coefficients of permeability for speci-
mens with 0, 20, 40, and 60% RAP BOF aggregate replacement were
0.00108, 0.00177, 0.00218, and 0.00321, respectively. Because the
water absorption rate of the RAP BOF aggregates was smaller than
that of the natural aggregates and it was difficult for moisture to
penetrate into the BOF slag aggregates, the coefficients of perme-
ability of the specimens increased with an increase in the RAP
BOF aggregate replacement, and the drainage ability also
improved. Moreover, the residence time of the moisture in the
specimens decreased; this result helped to limit the expansion of
the RAP BOF aggregate slags in the presence of water. The lower
residence time also helped prolong the life of the base or subbase
courses containing RAP BOF aggregates.
3.6. Direct shear tests
Direct shear tests were performed on specimens made with nat-
ural sand and RAP BOF fine aggregates after removing the rela-
tively large particles by sieving to study the possible various
applications of the RAP BOF aggregates. The effects of different
levels of RAP BOF aggregate replacement on the cohesion and
internal friction angle of the specimens were investigated. Fig. 9
shows the relation between the shear stress and normal stress of
the specimens with natural fine sand replaced by different levels
of RAP BOF fine aggregates. The cohesion values were zero for
the specimens that only contained RAP BOF fine aggregates. Hence,
the cohesion of the specimens was not improved after incorporat-
ing RAP BOF fine aggregates. Moreover, because the interlock
forces between the RAP BOF fine aggregates were stronger than
those of the natural fine sand, the internal friction angle of the
specimens increased with an increase in the level of RAP BOF fine
aggregate replacement. As seen in the figure, the internal friction
angles were 28.5°, 30°, 42°, and 42.5° for specimens with 0, 20,
40, and 60% RAP BOF fine aggregate replacement, respectively.
The internal friction angle is an important parameter in engineer-
ing design. The results suggest that natural fine sand can be
replaced by RAP BOF fine aggregates in applications for backfill
or slope remediation to improve the stability.
4. Conclusions
In this study, we analyzed the possible applications of using
RAP BOF aggregates in road base or subbase courses. The RAP
BOF aggregates contained 60% BOF slag. The following conclusions
were drawn:
 S.-H. Chen et al. / Construction and Building Materials 157 (2017) 647–653
1. The CBR values decreased with an increase in the RAP BOF
aggregate replacement content. The CBR values for specimens
with 0, 20, and 40% RAP BOF aggregate replacement met the
requirements set for the base or subbase courses. However,
the values for specimens with 60% RAP BOF aggregate replace-
ment only satisfied the standards required for subbase courses.
2. The expansion ratios for specimens with 60% RAP BOF aggregate
replacement did not satisfy the standards required by the
CNS15311 for road base or subbase courses.
3. When the compaction reached 95% of the maximum dry den-
sity, the CBR values were slightly higher than the values at
the OMC when the moisture applied during the compaction
process was less than the dry OMC. In contrast, the CBR values
decreased when the amount of moisture applied was more than
the wet OMC.
4. The internal friction angle of the specimens increased by using
increasing levels of RAP BOF fine aggregate to replace the natu-
ral find sand.
5. In this study, after considering the results of the CBR values,
expansion ratios, and other parameters used in the different
tests, the optimal RAP BOF aggregate replacement value for
the natural aggregates was determined to be 20%.
Acknowledgments
This study was partly supported by the Ministry of Science and
Technology of the Republic of China (Grant No. MOST 103-2221-E-
214-022-) and CHC Resources Corporation.
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