Selection of the best aggregates to be used in road construction with TOPSIS method [Dobór najlepszych kruszyw do zastosowania w budownictwie drogowym metodą TOPSIS]

Abstract

Road construction has been an ongoing engineering practice throughout human history. Although road construction technologies have changed over time, the raw material used has not changed for centuries, and it seems that it will not change in the upcoming centuries. Although some standards are used to determine the aggregate quality in road construction works, it is often complex and laborious to identify the aggregates that best meet the standards. Long-lasting and high-quality roads can be built and the most suitable aggregate is selected for the road. This study aims to select the most suitable aggregates used in hot-mix asphalt pavement production for road construction. In this study, multi-criteria decision-making methods were used for the selection of the aggregate that provides the best conditions. Aggregates used in constructing roads within the provincial borders of Ankara are produced from six stone quarries. To rank these aggregates and determine the ideal quarry for hot-mix asphalt production, the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method, which are multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods, were used. The results obtained from the tests on aggregates and hot-mix asphalts (HMA) were compared with the the best results based on the maximum and minimum limits determined in the standards. By comparing the the best results of the standards with the test results of the aggregates, weight scores were made for each test. Weight scores were scored and classified using the AHP and TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making methods. As a result, the aggregate with the highest score and the quarry area represented by the aggregate were determined as the most suitable for hot-mix asphalt construction. © 2023, Polska Akademia Nauk. All rights reserved.