Utilizing Advanced Characterization Tools to Prevent Reflective Cracking
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 24, Issue 4
Abstract
To prevent premature failures of rehabilitated concrete pavements, transportation authorities need tools to characterize the prerehab pavement condition of its load carrying capacity, and to determine the resistance of the overlay material to underlying crack/joint movements. Two quantitative methods, the rolling dynamic deflectometer (RDD) and overlay tester (OT), along with field performance data were employed in rehabilitation studies involving reflective cracks. The RDD is able to continuously assess vertical differential movements at joints/cracks that represent the potential for reflective cracks on existing pavements. The OT has the ability to determine the resistance of the overlay material to underlying crack/joint movements. The RDD deflections were used to determine areas that have a high potential for reflective cracking due to poor load transfer across joints and cracks. This paper documents results from the RDD and OT on the following five rehabilitation projects: (1) SH225; (2) US96; (3) SH12; (4) SH342; and (5) IH35W. Based on the available test results from these five projects, it was observed that the threshold values of 5.5 mils (0.140 mm) for exposed concrete pavement and 6.5 mils (0.165 mm) for composite pavement with existing hot mix asphalt overlay and an OT threshold value of 700 cycles correlated well with the field performance. Ignoring either of these critical factors may lead to premature reflective cracking.
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Acknowledgments
The support and assistance from Mike Murphy, Clark Slacum, Gary Moonshower, Miles Garrison, Johnny Perez, and Susan Chu of Texas Department of Transportation are appreciated. The assistances of Cecil Hoffpauir and Andrew Valentine for field RDD testing and Tom Scullion and Fujie Zhou for overlay testing are also appreciated.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 24 • Issue 4 • August 2010
Pages: 390 - 398
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 26, 2008
Accepted: Dec 17, 2009
Published online: Dec 29, 2009
Published in print: Aug 2010
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