bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How to Design and Construct Quieter Concrete Pavements
Authors: Rasmussen Robert Otto , Sohaney Richard C. , Fick Gary J. , Cackler E. Thomas
Published: January 2025

Concrete pavements can be designed and constructed so that the sound generated upon driving them can be as quiet as any other conventional pavement type in use today. The question is how can this be done, and furthermore, done consistently. This paper provides an overview of guidance developed under the Concrete Pavement Surface Characteristics Program titled, How to Reduce Tire-Pavement Noise: Better Practices for Constructing and Texturing Concrete Pavement Surfaces. Constructing a quieter concrete pavement requires the texture to have certain fundamental characteristics, but just as important is an emphasis on uniformity during construction. Furthermore, while there have been innovative equipment and techniques that have shown promise of quieter pavements in the future, it has been found that quieter concrete pavements are routinely built around the world using the same nominal concrete pavement textures in use today, namely diamond grinding, drag, longitudinal tining, transverse tining, and exposed aggregate.
Preliminary Optimization of Concrete Paving Mixtures for Sustainability and Performance
Authors: Cost Tim
Published: January 2025

Greater sustainability in concrete construction projects generally requires higher replacement of portland cement clinker-based binder materials with byproduct supple-mentary cementitious materials (SCM’s). There may be serious constructability-related performance side effects of such concrete mixtures, however, including delayed setting, slower strength gain, and increased sensitivity of the mixture to changing temperatures. Related impacts for paving applications may include placement and finishing issues, cracking, surface profile and durability concerns, and various other quality and scheduling implications. Mix designs often require more aggressive chemical admixture use and performance side effects are difficult to predict and manage. A protocol is presented for the evaluation of materials and preliminary optimization of proportions that can help maximize practical SCM use in concrete paving mixtures while approximating the performance of traditional mix designs. An approach using simple thermal profile testing of paste mixtures in the lab is presented and used to show how these influences can be understood and managed.
Performance of Concrete Pavement Mixtures with Marginal Aggregates: Laboratory Investigation
Authors: Bly Peter G. , Weiss Jr. Charles A.
Published: January 2025

Pavement engineers strive to design and construct portland cement concrete (PCC) airfields that are high quality and economical to maintain during their intended lifecycle. When designing concrete mixtures, locally available materials are desired to minimize transportation or processing expenses. Aggregate costs are of significant concern, because aggregate comprises 70% of the mixture volume. To reduce cost, local aggregates of marginal quality may be used in production; however, the use of these materials may reduce concrete quality and pavement performance. A laboratory investigation of 16 different aggregate materials was conducted, where each aggregate’s physical properties were in some way outside of the U.S. military’s specifications. Recycled materials were also included in the analysis because these materials are generally perceived as inferior. Forty-three mixture designs were created, where one mixture component or material property varied from a specified control mixture. Different proportions of each material were considered to test the effect of deviating from current specifications. Compression and flexural strength test specimens were cast for testing at 28 and 90 days, utilizing 850 total specimens. Statistical analyses were used to evaluate the effect of marginal quality aggregates on concrete strength.
Evaluation of Technologies for Nondestructively Determining Concrete Pavement Thickness
Authors: Edwards Lulu
Published: January 2025

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) was tasked by the U.S. Air Force (USAF) to evaluate the capability of emerging nondestructive testing equipment to accurately estimate the thickness of pavement surfaces without requiring large footprint equipment or pavement repairs. The ERDC research team conducted an evaluation of eleven nondestructive technologies, including eight ground penetrating radar devices and three different seismic technologies, on nineteen concrete test locations with varying pavement thicknesses. For each of the different pavement types, a single core was extracted to provide calibration points. The involved vendors and researchers estimated initial thickness, and upon receiving the calibration core thicknesses, final thickness estimates were computed. The accuracy of each technology was quantified by calculating the absolute difference between the actual core measurement and the estimated measurement. This paper describes the eleven different technologies, their performance on the test locations, and comparisons in terms of accuracy and implementation difficulty.
Shear Wave Method for Concrete Pavement Diagnostics
Authors: Hoegh Kyle , Khazanovich Lev , Yu Thomas
Published: January 2025

Field trials involving typical pavement constructability and rehabilitation issues at the Federal Aviation Administration’s National Airport Pavement Test Facility, the Minnesota Road Research Project, and various in service pavements using MIRA were verified. The trials indicate that, while the device is a useful portable pavement diagnostic alternative capable of consistent thickness measurement, reinforcement location, and distress evaluation, significant efforts and user expertise are required for measurement and data interpretation of large scale applications. Thus, a couple productive, objective signal interpretation methods are presented for automated analysis of reinforcement location in continuously reinforced concrete pavement as well as an initial distress indicator using two-dimensional ultrasonic signature analysis. This type of automation for multiple applications shows promise for the use of ultrasonic tomography to improve large scale pavement quality assurance, quality control, and rehabilitation projects in the future. Innovative imaging methods such as synthetic aperture focusing technique panoramic reconstructions and synthetic aperture focusing technique three-dimensional visualizations were also introduced to improve the ability to obtain relational information when dealing with larger scanned areas. Ultrasonic tomography is shown to be an accurate, reliable, and convenient alternative/supplement to traditional techniques or can be used to replace or reduce the need for forensic methods such as coring.
Critical Stress Analysis of Large Aircraft on Airport Rigid Pavement Using FEAFAA
Authors: Chen Yuanguo , Wang Qiang , Brill David R.
Published: January 2025

The critical stresses of large aircraft on the airport rigid pavement were analyzed using 3D finite element program, FEAFAA. Four large aircraft with multiple-gear structures, the A380, B747, A340-500, and A340-200, were selected for the analysis. The curling effect on top-down cracking prediction was investigated through the equivalent temperature gradient (ETG). Among the curling directions of downward curling, flat and upward curling, the upward curling shows the greatest critical top-to-bottom tensile stress ratio (t/b ratio), as expected. Also, for upward curling, the t/b ratio shows a high linear dependence on the ETG value for the considered ETG range. The critical gear position is identified for upward curling: a critical gear position exists for A340-500 and A340-200, and a critical gear area exists for B747 and A380. Finally, the sensitivity analysis for the A380 shows that: the t/b ratio is highly sensitive to the slab thickness and the elastic modulus of the subgrade, but insensitive to the elastic modulus of the slab, subbase thickness, and the elastic modulus of the subbase; the t/b ratio tends to increase as the elastic modulus of the subgrade and slab thickness increase; and the critical gear position can be regarded insensitive to the elastic modulus and thickness of each pavement layer, since it is always located in the critical gear area.
A Case Study of Slab Cracking and Delamination in BCO Construction at the Bush International Airport (IAH) Part I: Impact on Service Life
Authors: Byington Steve , Al-Rub Rashid Abu , Hurlebaus Stefan , Zollinger Dan G.
Published: January 2025

Bonded Concrete Overlay (BCO) construction at the Bush International Airport (IAH) has been subjected to incidences of cracking and delamination that is speculated to be mainly climatically driven due the extremely dry and windy weather conditions prevalent throughout most of the construction period. An investigation was under taken to determine the strength of the bond between the overlay and existing pavement as well as the structural integrity of the constructed pavement section to determine effects on project pavement service life. This paper reports the details of the investigation and the findings from the analysis of them relative to the impact on the service life.
A Case Study of Slab Cracking and Delamination in BCO Construction at the Bush International Airport (IAH) – Part II: Causative Factors
Authors: Godiwalla Adil , Zollinger Dan G. , Little Dallas N.
Published: January 2025

Bonded Concrete Overlay (BCO) construction at the Bush International Airport (IAH) has been subjected to incidences of cracking and delamination that is speculated to be mainly climatically driven due the extremely dry and windy weather conditions prevalent throughout most of the construction period. An investigation was undertaken to determine the causes of the failure of the bond between the overlay and existing pavement as well as the mechanism associated with that. This paper reports portions of the details of the laboratory and field investigation into the distress mechanism but focuses mainly on the analytical approach used to assess the probabilities of the types of cracking and delamination observed.
New Guidelines for Exposed Aggregate Surfaces in The Netherlands
Authors: Jurriaans George , Van Keulen Wim , Kramer Wim A.
Published: January 2025

Today’s opinion on environmental aspects, such as CO2 reduction, does more often lead to the choice of concrete pavements as far as the noise reduction will be solved. On the one hand the ever higher axle loads do ask for rigid pavements, but on the other hand noise also is an environmental aspect especially in built-up areas. Traffic noise, which is in fact the sum of tyre/road and engine noise, is one of the major disturbances for inhabitants. This has resulted into strict legislation with respect to maximum allowable noise levels at the facades of houses. Reducing traffic noise at the source by minimizing tyre/road noise can be achieved by advanced pavement engineering. In the past, many exposed aggregate concrete surfaces have been realised. This started with concrete with a higher amount of fine aggregates in the surface to special designs with a uniform fine aggregate size. But all these pavements in The Netherlands showed up till about 2008 poor till just acceptable noise emissions. In these cases a poorly textured surface caused these disappointing results. The paper deals with the process of the noise reduction of a concrete pavement and will result in the main topics of the Dutch guidelines. An important but often underexposed part of the process “The quality Control” of the exposed aggregate surface during the brushing process is also included.
Albedo as an engineering property of concrete pavements
Authors: Sen Sushobhan , Roesler Jeffrey
Published: January 2025

Albedo or solar reflectance is a thermal property of concrete pavements that is used in pavement design as well as life cycle assessment. In either application, it has a major impact on distress predictions and the urban heat island quantification, respectively. Hence, understanding the factors that affect the albedo of concrete pavement is important. The spectral reflectance of three types of concrete, one made of white cement and no supplementary materials, one with white cement and 15% fly ash, and one with gray cement and 15% fly ash, were determined using a spectrophotometer. Using the SMARTS 2.95 model, the solar spectrum adjusted for pavements in two locations, San Antonio (Texas) and Singapore, were determined at an altitude of 200 m and 3,000 m for representative days and hours in the year 2000. The albedo was determined as a solar spectrum-weighted average of the solar reflectance and compared to that determined with the current ASTM G173 standard. The most important variable affecting concrete albedo was found to be the mix design, followed by the time and geographical location of measurement. While the maximum error as compared to the current standard was small, the error with respect to the value used in practice was very large, indicating the need to measure albedo to avoid overly conservative albedo inputs into pavement design and LCA.
Approximation Assessment of Photocatalytic Air Cleaning Pavements
Authors: Alleman James E. , Sikkema Joel K. , Taylor Peter C.
Published: January 2025

This paper examines an approximation method to qualitatively assess the air-cleaning performance (i.e., specifically the elimination of aerial nitrogen oxide, NO, released within vehicular exhaust) by full-scale pavements which contain photo-catalytically reactive titanium dioxide under optimal conditions. Two hypothetical road configurations were considered using this method, including both a two-lane, low traffic density (i.e., 4,000 full-day AADT) and a four-lane, moderate traffic density (i.e., 10,000 full-day AADT) design. These options were then comparatively examined on the basis of expected European Union or United States vehicular emission levels day-time-only percentile elimination approximation results were derived using an extrapolation of lab-based specific contaminant elimination rates (i.e., mass NO removed per surface area per time) relative to contaminant release rates which were projected for EU or US vehicular contaminant emission levels. approximation method, and assuming best-case scenario conditions (i.e., original, un-aged, peak catalytic performance under optimal temperature, relative humidity, etc. conditions), day-timeonly percentile removals in the ~mid-60% to ~90% range were predicted for EU two- and fourlane roadways with low to moderate traffic densities. These EU contaminant elimination approximation percentiles were higher than the actual, observed range (e.g., typically ~mid-10% to ~mid-60% day-time removal percentiles) of published contaminant elimination values which had been measured according to gas-phase contaminant changes during a number of full-scale studies completed at various EU locations and with EU-related vehicle types and emissions. In the case of similar US highway options, th approximated day-time-only elimination percentile results were lower than what was predicted for similar EU road options, with a range of ~30% to ~40%. These latter, lower US road approximations were believed to be related to higher expected US versus EU vehicle emission levels (i.e., by a factor of ~two- to ~three-fold for light and heavy duty vehicles).
Accelerated Urban Concrete Paving- UDOT SR-39 (12th Street, Ogden Utah)
Authors: Holmgren D. , Laker T. , McIntyre M. , Preston C.
Published: January 2025

Highways, streets, and roads in urban areas are crucial to America's transportation system. Constructing, maintaining and reconstructing urban roadways can be accomplished in a sustainable, cost effective manner. Urban paving can, however, be complicated by maintaining access to businesses and residents. Additionally, traffic flow must be maintained throughout the construction project so as not to inconvenience the traveling public. Further, urban roadways typically incorporate multiple and varied utilities in or around the roadway that need to be addressed. SR-39, known as 12th Street in Ogden, in Northern Utah, is one of these challenging projects. The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) had a short time frame for reconstruction and a desire to have a sustainable, long-lasting surface that would limit disturbance to residences and businesses located on this vital corridor in Northern Utah. This paper will explore how innovative thinking addressed many of the common concerns associated with urban paving and how this project can serve as an example of why accelerated urban concrete paving is a sustainable, viable paving solution for DOTs and municipalities.
Analysis of the Impact of Deicing Salts on Transport Properties of Concrete – Preliminary Results
Authors: Kim Haejin , Tanesi Jussara , Ardani Ahmad A.
Published: January 2025

The ingress of deicing chemical solutions into the pore system of hardened concrete can profoundly affect its physical and chemical properties. It is a known fact that salt solutions are highly conductive in comparison with pure water and as a result when they penetrate into concrete they alter its electrical resistivity as well as other transport properties. In this study, the influence of three deicing salts on transport properties measured in four different ways: (1) surface resistivity (SR), (2) rapid chloride permeability (RCPT), (3) sorptivity, and (4) apparent chloride diffusion, of specimens exposed to sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and magnesium chloride is investigated. The feasibility of using these test methods to evaluate in service structures is discussed. It was observed that transport properties, measured by the several test methods, appear to be influenced by different factors when in presence of salts. There is a correlation between SR and RCPT, but in these preliminary results there is no good correlation between the other tests.
Using Neural Networks for Pavement Rolling Resistance
Authors: Lenngren Carl A. , Salini Reus
Published: January 2025

All pavements contribute to the rolling resistance of vehicles. For passenger cars, the pavement influence is limited to the surface properties, but heavy trucks are influenced by the deformation, the internal damping, and non-elastic behavior of the pavement materials involved. Previous studies have been addressing the pavement type, the material type and various stages of compaction. Recently, even the effects of curling slabs on rolling resistance was assessed. As sustainable pavements are now becoming a requirement from road authorities, it is important to have access to calculable parameters of energy losses during use, and not only from construction. The present paper addresses some of the input parameters needed to assess rolling resistance losses for pavements in general and rigid pavements in particular, by using neural network techniques. The results can be used for the decision-making in either bidding processes or strategic planning.
Investigation of Curling and Warping on US 34 near Greeley, Colorado
Authors: Merritt David K. , Chang George K. , Torres Helga N.
Published: January 2025

Construction of a jointed concrete pavement on US 34 near Greeley, Colorado in 2012 led to an investigation of slab curling and warping that appeared to be contributing to undesirable levels of pavement roughness. The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) initiated an investigation to quantify the effects of slab curling and warping on ride quality for the US 34 project and to identify possible changes in construction practices to mitigate the effects of slab curling on future projects. This paper summarizes the various analyses that were conducted under this research project and the results from this investigation. It also provides recommendations for improvements in construction practices to help minimize jointed concrete pavement slab curling and warping and recommendations for the collection of smoothness acceptance data such that the effects of curling and warping can be captured.
Construction of a Cement Concrete Pavement in a Hilly Terrain in India
Authors: Jain R K , Swamy Mirtunjay , Pandey B B , Kumar Jwalendra
Published: January 2025

The National Highway No 48 is an important artery connecting the capital city of Bangalore and the coastal city of Mangalore in the state of Karnataka in India.Over 5000 heavily loaded commercial vehicles per day with single and tandem axle loads as high as 200 kN and 400 kN respectively form bulk of the traffic. The highway alignment passes throughan eco-sensitive area with topography having steep longitudinalgradients up to 6%, and temperaturesfrom 16°Cto 36°C. The road has 152curvesin a length of 26 km with a large number of acute angled curves on gradients. The existing Asphalt Concrete pavement needed continuous maintenance due to heavy rain. It was decided to rehabilitate it with a jointed cement concrete pavement overlaid on a subbase of Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) of10 MPa strength. The Paper gives highlights of design and construction of Dowel Jointed Cement Concrete Pavement having an8.50-meter wide carriageway constructed in two halves because of space constraints. Intercepting water by means of nonwoven geotextile and open graded aggregate due to the artesian condition owing to high water table was an important feature of the project.
Degradation in pavement concretes - Effects of cyclic loading on fluid transport processes and ASR
Authors: Przondziono R. , Breitenbücher R.
Published: January 2025

The Alkali-Silica-Reaction (ASR) in concrete pavements has been known for several years. The previous investigations of ASR focused mainly on potentially reactive aggregates and the assessment of the ASR-potential in concrete pavements. A study of the separate influences causing and accelerating an ASR has been missing. The ASR can be greatly affected by externally supplied alkalis such as de-icing agents. These penetrate into the concrete microstructure, which is damaged through traffic. One focus within this extensive research project is the characterization of the degradation in the concrete microstructure caused by cyclic loading. Further focus lies on the determination of the effect of degradation on the transport behavior of fluids into the concrete. These studies show the degradation of the concrete microstructure under a varying number of load-cycles and changing stress levels. A significant increase in penetration depth of alkaline solutions was not only determined for different stages of degradation but also caused by overrolling tires, which increase the pressure on the surface locally. The externally applied alkali-ions then ingress and accelerate an ASR drastically. Thus, the superposition of these effects are greatly relevant for a damaging ASR. These studies are of interest for researchers as well as for practitioners.
Failures in bituminous joint-sealing in concrete pavements
Authors: Breitenbücher R. , Fischer A.
Published: January 2025

In many countries, e.g. Germany, concrete pavements are constructed with plain concrete (JPCP). In such constructions, joints and their sealing are essential elements for a durable longterm behavior. Recently, numerous damages in the joint sealants were detected as early as one to three years after application. Especially delamination of the sealant from the joint edges and tearing of the sealant itself have been observed. In former times none of such phenomena have been known, it is assumed that the bitumen quality had been modified over time. However, the material itself had fulfilled all requirements of the standard specifications. Therefore, also other components of the joint sealing like the adhesion layer or the saw cut resp. the roughness of the joint edges have to be considered as potential causes for the failure. Currently the single components are being tested separately. Thus, a comprehensive test method had to be developed which captures the behavior of the entire sealant system. Herewith, the adhesion layer as well as the surface in the joint edges can be evaluated under the relevant loadings. This had been developed within an extensive research project. In this test, the behavior of the entire joint system can be analyzed under static as well as under cyclic loads. Through this complete technical assessment, it will be possible to design and execute joint sealants in concrete pavements more durable.
Engineering and Design Considerations for Steel Furnace Slag Aggregates in Concrete Pavements
Authors: Brand Alexander S. , Roesler Jeffrey R.
Published: January 2025

The use of steel furnace slag (SFS) aggregates is limited in the United States and abroad, primarily because of the inherent expansion potential of the material, which results from the hydration of the free calcium and magnesium oxides present from the slagging process. When used in concrete, the literature presents contradictory findings, such as that the strength can increase or decrease with the addition of SFS aggregates. Microstructural investigations of the SFS aggregates as well as the interfacial transition zone (ITZ) in mortars revealed that the mechanical properties are strongly dependent on the SFS type and source. Certain SFS types can develop with a porous interior and/or a porous outer layer of different composition, both of which act as weaknesses in the bulk concrete. Depending on the SFS type, the ITZ may also be more porous, which can lead to further weakening of the concrete. Given the potential deleterious expansion of SFS, there are rapid screening protocols, which can quantify both the free lime content (complexometric titration) and expansion potential (autoclave index test) of the SFS. While the literature currently presents limits for the SFS to be used as a base material, no limits are defined for the use of SFS in bound applications, despite the fact that low expansion SFS aggregates are being used in several countries for certain applications.
Plain Concrete Highway Pavements in New South Wales Australia 1983 – 2015
Authors: Hodgkinson John
Published: January 2025

Concrete highway pavements have been constructed in the State of New South Wales (NSW) Australia since the mid 1920s. Prior to 1983 the principal pavement type was jointed reinforced with a few sections of CRCP. In 1983 plain concrete was introduced for highway construction. Within an overall inventory of more than 850km of highway pavement completed and under construction since around 1980, approximately 650km are plain concrete, the remainder being CRCP. One feature of these plain concrete pavements is the inclusion of undoweled transverse contraction joints. This paper sets out the factors leading to the introduction of this type of pavement including undoweled joints, and the evolution of jointing, thickness, subbase, shoulders and overall carriageway cross sections since 1983. The importance of designing the pavement as a system, not just a series of components, and placing as much importance on what is under the slab, as for the slab itself, is emphasised. International source technologies from which NSW practice has drawn are referenced. Contemporary design traffic loads, thickness design procedures, model drawings and construction specifications, construction practice and an overview of maintenance experience are referenced.
Experimental Investigation of a Recyclable Fly-Ash Concrete Pavement Having Moderate Slump
Authors: Yoshitake Isamu , Fukumoto Sunao , Ishida Takeo , Yamato Koichiro
Published: January 2025

A high early strength concrete pavement incorporating a high volume of fly ash and a cement-replacement ratio of 0.4 has been developed. The pavement concrete consists of limestone aggregate and powder in addition to these cementitious materials. It was noteworthy that all components in the pavement concrete may be primary calcium materials for manufacturing Portland cement. The fly ash concrete was made of a low cementitious material ratio (w/cm=0.33) and very low water content (110 kg/m3) to improve strength development at an early age. The pavement concrete, therefore, has a very low slump value of 2 cm (or lower), so the concrete was not widely employed in the pavement application. This study aims to develop a new recyclable fly-ash concrete pavement having moderate workability. The foci of the experimental investigation are to confirm the recyclability for cement manufacturing and to examine strength properties applicable to the practical use of the concrete pavement. This paper demonstrates that chemical and physical properties of the recycled cement meet the Japanese criteria. The test result shows that the workable pavement concrete achieved the minimum strength for passable pavement at the age of 7 days, and the specified strength at 28 days.
I-80- PDR, Concrete Overlay, and Sustainable Concrete Mix Design
Authors: Laker T. , McIntyre M. , Preston C.
Published: January 2025

Constructing, maintaining and reconstructing interstate highways can be accomplished in a sustainable, cost effective manner. Sustainability is an increasingly important element in the design and construction of transportation infrastructure because of limited dollars and natural resources. Construction materials and methods can contribute greatly to the overall sustainability of a pavement. Concrete, as the most widely used construction material on the planet, has been proven time and again as one of the most sustainable and longest lasting pavement media. Other intrinsic benefits of concrete include light reflectance and reduced rolling resistance which results in improved fuel economy for the traveling public. In this paper these attributes will be explored through the experience gained during the reconstruction of a section of Interstate 80 near Park City, Utah. This section of highway was originally constructed with asphalt but after years of repair work the section has been repaved with concrete pavement. This project utilized multiple sustainable practices including partial depth recycling of the existing asphalt which was treated with cement, and a concrete overlay. I-80 proved that many pavement challenges can be solved with concrete overlays, while economizing taxpayer dollars, saving natural resources, recycling existing materials, and providing a long design life.
Repair of concrete pavements by thin concrete overlays
Authors: Breitenbücher R. , Fischer A.
Published: January 2025

In consideration of continuously increasing traffic and high exposure to freeze-thaw and deicing salt, maintenance and repair works of concrete pavements become of crucial importance. An alternative to the conventional replacement of the entire concrete structure is the application of thin-layered new concrete. For this procedure, only the upper part of the existing pavement, which is impaired, is removed and will be replaced by a thin layer of new concrete. The crucial factor here is the bonding behavior between the lower layer (old concrete) and the thin layer of new concrete. The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of cyclic loading and freeze-thaw-cycles with deicing salts on the bonding properties of such concrete layers. Herein, a number of parameters were varied, including the moisture condition of the old concrete, the application of adhesion primer, the consistency of new concrete etc. These studies are of interest for researchers as well as for practitioners.
Long Term Evaluation of Unbonded Concrete Overlay Technology: A Municipal Case Study
Authors: Kivi Aleks K. , Tighe Susan L. , Fung Rico , Grajek Jozef
Published: January 2025

Portland cement concrete (PCC) overlays are growing in popularity as a costeffective means of pavement preservation or rehabilitation. When properly designed and constructed, concrete overlays are a durable and cost-effective solution. This technology can be an excellent choice for municipal pavements, which are often subjected to heavy, slow moving vehicles. This paper presents an overview of design and construction considerations for unbonded concrete overlays, with an emphasis on details relating to the use of this technology in municipal applications. The included case study presents a synopsis of the City of Toronto's experience with the design and construction of its first unbonded concrete overlay project on Bloor Street. The performance of this trial section and lessons learned from the first twelve years of service are discussed.
Spragues Road Rehabilitation with an Unbonded Concrete Overlay Region of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Authors: Saunderson Eric , Prieur Mick
Published: January 2025

The work of this project includes the rehabilitation and widening of a 1.2 km (0.75 mile) section of Spragues Road (Regional Road No. 75) from Wrigley Road to the Region of Waterloo boundary in the Township of North Dumfries. The existing road is a rural two-lane composite pavement with partially paved and gravel shoulders. An initial geotechnical investigation determined that conventional road resurfacing strategies of the asphalt / concrete composite pavement were no longer cost-effective and additional assessments were completed to evaluate alternate rehabilitation strategies. Through this process, non-destructive testing was conducted to determine the structural adequacy of the concrete base and suitability for pavement preservation. Comprehensive field investigations determined the 80-year old concrete base was generally in good condition and should be preserved as part of the project. The final pavement design consists of re-profiling or cold planing the existing asphalt surface to meet proposed design gradients, installation of an asphalt intermediate separation layer and placement on an Unbonded Concrete Overlay, a unique rehabilitation treatment in the Province of Ontario.
Effects of Base Course Restraint on Early Age Transverse Cracking in CRCP
Authors: Nishizawa Tatsuo , Kazato Yoshitaka , Motomatsu Shiro , Taketsu Hitomi
Published: January 2025

Asphalt Interlayer (AIL) is planning to be inserted between a concrete slab and base course in continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) in a super express highway in Japan. In this study, the effects of AIL are investigated based on observations and measurements on a test CRCP and simulations with three dimensional finite element method (3DFEM). The test pavement has two sections with and without AIL and strains and temperatures in the slab were measured. Investigation of the test pavement revealed that air temperature at the time of concrete casting affected the strains in the slab and crack pattern. Also, three closely spaced cracks were observed in the AIL section. To examine how AIL affects cracking situations, numerical simulations were conducted using a 3DFE model that was developed in this study. The model employs an incremental algorithm to consider changes of free contraction strain (FCS) and material properties of concrete at the early age. Mechanical interaction between steel and concrete was modeled with three nonlinear springs. The model was validated by simulating early age cracking of the slab and comparing the predicted strains and the strains measured in the test pavement. Effects of AIL on spacing and width of transverse crack were investigated with the model. The simulations of the 3DFE model revealed that the crack spacing does not change by using AIL, while AIL narrows the crack width. It was found that a small peak in tensile stress on the top of the slab near the crack appears in the AIL section, which might cause “secondary” crack near “primary” crack. The peak disappears after the secondary crack occurs near the primary crack, resulting in a cluster cracking observed in the test pavement.
Effect of Fine Lightweight Aggregate on Curling Behavior of Concrete Beams
Authors: Amirkhanian Armen N. , Roesler Jeffrey R.
Published: January 2025

Addition of saturated lightweight aggregate fines to concrete have demonstrated the ability to enhance hydration, reduce autogeneous shrinkage and permeability, and increase strength. However, no study has yet been conducted on the impact of employing saturated lightweight aggregates in concrete mixtures to reduce concrete moisture curling under external drying conditions. In this study, a set of paving mixtures was cast with and without saturated fine lightweight aggregates. Saturated fine lightweight aggregates were found to reduce the moisture curling of a concrete specimen up to 50% when compared to an identical mixture without fine lightweight aggregates. As the curing duration increased, the moisture curling deformations were also higher albeit with a higher concrete strength. Overall, the addition of saturated fine lightweight aggregates had a substantial and beneficial impact on the moisture curling of concrete slabs.
Evaluating Full and Partial Internal Curing in Terms of Internal Relative Humidity, Hydration and Performance
Authors: Castro Javier , Peled Alva , Weiss Jason
Published: January 2025

Internal curing is being increasingly considered for use in concrete pavements. Internal curing frequently uses prewetted lightweight aggregate (LWA) to provide water to the cement paste as it hydrates. While internal curing has many benefits, many of these benefits can be traced to the additional hydration or a reduction in autogenous shrinkage that occurs as a result of the water that is stored in the aggregate. Many times internally cured mixtures are designed to provide a volume of internal curing water that is equivalent to the volume of chemical shrinkage; some have asked if there are benefits to only supplying a portion of this water. If only a portion of this water is needed it would reduce the volume of LWA used and make the pavement more cost-efficient. This paper examines the additional hydration that occurs in internally cured concrete systems with varying levels of internal curing (i.e., varying volumes of water that are equal to chemical shrinkage as well as partial volumes of this water) at early ages using isothermal calorimetry. In addition, internal relative humidity and the densification of the ITZ are measured for the plain and internally cured concrete. Internal curing is beneficial as the additional hydration can improve strength and reduce fluid transport. Internal curing, relative humidity, cement hydration, degree of hydration, calorimetry, SEM, Scanning Electrical Microscopy
Performance of Roller Compacted Concrete Pavement in Arkansas
Authors: Williams Stacy G. , Meadors Alan , Tamayo Sarah
Published: January 2025

In 2012, Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) pavement was placed on a 2-mile section of a deteriorated roadway in Arkansas. Significant distresses in the area had been experienced as a result of the sharp increase in truck traffic associated with recent natural gas exploration efforts. RCC was chosen for the project because it afforded the ability to significantly increase the roadway’s structural capacity while also minimizing construction time and cost. Although some challenges were met during construction, the final product was considered successful, and the pavement has performed well to date. While the surface has not proven to be as aesthetically pleasing as that of a traditional concrete pavement, the pavement has performed admirably and still exhibits good ride quality. After almost three years, IRI values have remained steady in spite of some surface defects. The primary distresses have been surface issues such as popouts and joint deterioration. The pavement has been subjected to relatively heavy traffic and significant seasonal temperature swings, and some cracking has been noted. This paper provides a detailed description of the project and a comprehensive performance summary to date, including a thorough discussion of the existing distresses.
Economic and Weibull Analysis of High Performance Concrete Pavements
Authors: Izevbekhai Bernard Igbafen
Published: January 2025

This paper examines the 60-year design philosophy, specifications, and institutional maintenance and repair strategies for Minnesota’s high performance concrete pavements in the first 15 years of service life. It catalogues various modifications and improvements made to the specification since the inception of the concept. It performs a life-cycle cost analysis on the original segment and an incremental benefit cost analysis. Results indicated that the high performance concrete option had the lowest Net Present Cost of investment in comparison to other competing options thus validating the 2001 choice of the high performance concrete pavement over whitetopping, bituminous pavement and do-nothing options. In a conservative approach, Waddoli Weibull analysis of Mean- Time-Between-Maintenance-Activities (MTBMA) of more than 200 concrete test sections in the network indicated that most of the sections exhibited random failure modes in the first three rehabilitation/ maintenance intervals but showed end of life ("wear-out") failure mode after the fourth rehabilitation / maintenance. Consequently, the process also facilitated the determination of optimal intervals for the four interventions within the agency-instituted 50 year analysis period.
Quantifying the Impact of Pavement Diversity at the Network- Level: A Heuristic-Based Approach for Pavement Management
Authors: Swei Omar , Gregory Jeremy , Kirchain Randolph
Published: January 2025

Departments of transportation (DOTs) are increasingly utilizing pavement management systems for the efficient maintenance and preservation of the existing roadway system. Few studies to date, however, have considered sources of variation beyond pavement deterioration nor the implication of investing in multiple pavement materials. The goal of this study is to implement a heuristicbased model in a realistic case study so that one can understand the implication of (a) cost variation and (b) the consideration of multiple paving materials and designs on the performance of a roadway network. The model is implemented in four different scenarios for a set of 3,000 pavement segments in the state of Virginia. The four scenarios include a deterministic case using asphalt and concrete and three probabilistic scenarios that utilizes either asphalt, concrete, or both materials. From the case studies, two interesting results emerge. First, incorporating not just more pavement designs, but also including alternative paving materials, in the pavement management model increases the overall performance of the system. Second, incorporating cost uncertainty increases the advantage of investing in alternative materials, something that the current paradigms do not consider.
Improving Network Investment Results by Implementing Competition and Asset Management in the Pavement Type Selection Process
Authors: Mack James W. , Wathne Leif G. , Mu Feng
Published: January 2025

The US spends an estimated $91 billion on US highways every year, with most pavement expenditures going to maintenance of the existing system. However, congestion is a major issue. It is estimated that congestion leads to 5.5 billion wasted hours and 2.9 billion gallons of wasted gas, costing $121 billion annually. Expansion of the system is needed, but current funding streams are not even able to keep up with maintenance needs. The primary approach to address this challenge has been to increase funding. While this is needed, agencies also need to improve the efficiency of their roadway investments to get more out of their pavements. This can be accomplished in two ways. First, agencies can increase competition in the pavement bidding process. Basic economics confirms that when there is competition among many contractors and across paving industries, the average unit prices for pavements are lowered significantly. The second way is to improve the management of the pavement assets to increase the average life of the network. A longer life network, though it may initially cost more, has a larger return to both the agency and the driving public in reduced expenditures and congestion. This paper will show how agencies can improve the pavement network investment efficiency using these two items.
Developing Robust Rehabilitation Scenario Profiles for Life Cycle Cost Analysis
Authors: Mack James W. , Gregory Jeremy , Kirchain Randolph E.
Published: January 2025

Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) is an economic procedure often used to compare competing pavement designs. For the LCCA to be meaningful and reliable, the analysis must reflect the most likely activities for each alternative being evaluated. Currently, most state highway agencies (SHA) apply a standard, policy-set, rehabilitation schedule to all pavements based on “historical” performance, which may or may not be representative of the given design. The fact is that there are many different rehabilitation scenarios that could be performed when the pavement requires rehabilitation and which one is selected will impact the results. This paper shows how SHAs can use the American Association of Highway and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO) Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide to determine when rehabilitation activities are required, and Decision Tree Analysis to examine multiple scenarios of which rehabilitation activities are to be done. By using these two processes, it is possible to develop multiple rehabilitation schedules that are specific to a given pavement design, which makes the LCCA more robust and reliable. Finally, a case study is shown to demonstrate the extent to which these processes could affect the outcome of an LCCA.
Temporary Precast Panels and Self-Consolidating Concrete for Accelerated Slab Replacement
Authors: Armaghani Jamshid , Tawfiq Kamal , Squillacote Steven , Bergin Michael
Published: January 2025

An innovative method was developed to accelerate replacement of segments of slabs in concrete pavement rehabilitation projects with the goal of increasing production and reducing construction time. The two-component method involved the use temporary and reusable precast panels and self-consolidating concrete (SCC). Laboratory tests were performed to develop the proper SCC mix and precast panel design. Field demonstration was conducted in a dedicated test track to validate the method. The SCC mix incorporated 1” (25 mm) maximum size coarse aggregate, low w/c and as a combination of admixtures to increase and maintain workability, and accelerate early strength development. Two precast panels were prepared to be installed in slab replacement pits. A pavement test track was used to demonstrate validity of the method. Inside the track a slab-replacement testpit was prepared and used to evaluate the installation and removal of the panels, as well as the casting of the replacement slab using the SCC mix. The precast panels and replacement slab were tested under multiple cycles of heavy trucks without experiencing panel failure or cracking. The method was validated for speed of panel installation, as well as rapid SCC mix discharge, workability retention and high early strength.
METHODS FOR MEASURING APPLICATION RATE OF LIQUID MEMBRANE-FORMING CURING COMPOUNDS ON CONCRETE PAVEMENTS
Authors: Poole Toy s.
Published: January 2025

Several method of measuring application rates of liquid membrane-forming curing compounds were investigated. For non-pigmented compounds, a direct mass determination using sampling coupons appears to be the only plausible method. For white-pigmented compounds, reflectance was found to be a reasonably accurate, field applicable, method. Also, visual estimation of degree of whiteness was given a quantitative basis.