EVALUATION OF THE IMPACT OF CONCRETE PAVEMENT RESTORATION TECHNIQUES ON PAVEMENT PERFORMANCE

Abstract

Concrete Pavement Restoration (CPR) techniques were applied on a 30 mile stretch of I-65 between SR-114 and US-231 at Crown Point, in Indiana, in 1985. At the time of rehabilitation, some typical functional and structural distresses were developed. The distresses included comer, diagonal, longitudinal and transverse cracking and faulted, spalled and broken joints. The deteriorated surface resulted in a rough ride and a low skid resistance with potential slippery problems. Three types of full depth patches (dowelled, inverted T, and inverted T with a middle dowelled joint) were constructed to replace sections of severe pavement breakups. Partial depth patches were placed to repair minor surface distresses. Cracks were routed and sealed, and joints were refaced to inhibit intrusion of water. Diamond grinding was employed to restore the smooth riding quality and to increase the skid resistance, as well as to remove faulting at joints and cracks. This study evaluated the impact of the CPR techniques on pavement condition and performance. The three types of full depth patches were still functioning well after five years in service. However, the dowelled full depth patch had lower load transfer coefficients than the inverted T full depth patches. The middle contraction joint installed on inverted T patches did not function as desired, and therefore its use should be discontinued. The partial depth patches performed poorly and required continuous maintenance throughout the study period. Diamond grinding greatly reduced the roughness and moderately increased the wet skid resistance of the concrete pavement. The quick reduction of the wet skid resistance after rehabilitation limited the service life to 5 to 6 years. The concrete pavement continued to deteriorate after rehabilitation and the amount of concrete defects have been increasing at a significant rate. However, most of the defects were in the low severity category and the pavement was still structurally sound by the end of this study. A life cycle cost analysis indicated that CPR was more cost effective than an asphalt overlay for this project even though CPR gained a service life that is shorter than the typical service life of an asphalt overlay. This study indicated that the cost of CPR and the service life of a pavement after rehabilitation are determined not only by the success of CPR techniques, but also by the condition and remaining service life of the original pavement at the time of rehabilitation. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that adequate condition evaluation and cost analysis be performed before rehabilitation to determine the feasibility of CPR.