National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

The research described in this report was funded by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), with an emphasis on portland limestone cements (PLCs) with higher limestone contents (e.g., greater than 15%), particularly in paving applications. The project was quite comprehensive and included the full-scale production of seven different cements at two Texas cement plants, with limestone contents as high as 30 percent. These cements were then evaluated in the laboratory and at outdoor exposure sites, studying a wide range of fresh, hardened, and durability properties of PLC concrete, including select mixtures in combination with supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) with limestone contents of up to 30% limestone, in selected combinations with supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs). The results show that PLCs can be produced that are constructible, durable, and sustainable, but a thorough understanding of PLCs and SCMs is needed to optimize the overall performance. More research and, particularly, more well-monitored, real-world applications of PLCs with higher limestone contents are needed to better correlate the results of laboratory tests to actual pavements or structures.