Experimental Evaluation of Erosion Processes in Rigid Pavements

Erosion in rigid pavements is defined as the loss of material of the base layer near the joints of the slabs that is caused by the combined effect of the presence of water, traffic loading and the use of certain base materials. This material loss forms a cavity under the joint areas, which produces a lack of support of the concrete slabs and causes the initiation and propagation of cracking processes. This work presents the results of two experimental efforts conducted to better characterize this phenomenon: 1) a new test to quantify the erosion susceptibility of stabilized base materials, and 2) a full-scale experimental set-up to evaluate the initiation and progression of erosion. The results suggest that the erosion test provides reliable information to quantify the erodability of stabilized materials, and that the full-scale set-up is useful to evaluate the relative impact of different factors in determining the development of this phenomenon.