• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.18 no.3E
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• pp.145-150
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• 2006

An experiment with the objective of providing guidelines for joint depth determination and timing of contraction joint sawcutting to avert uncontrolled cement concrete pavement cracking has been conducted. Theoretical analysis and laboratory tests were performed to help in understanding and analyzing the field observation. Using two-dimensional elastic fracture mechanics, the influence of several parameters on crack propagation was delineated by a parametric study, involving initial notch ratio, joint spacing, Young's modulus and thermal expansion coefficient of concrete, temperature gradient, and modulus of subgrade reaction. Bimaterials made of rock plus cement mortar and rock plus polymer mortar were applied to the concrete in a field test section, and they were subjected to fracture tests. These tests have shown that fracture mechanics is a powerful tool not only in judging the quality of the jointed cement concrete pavement but also in providing a criterion for crack propagation and delamination. Based on fracture mechanics, a method is proposed to determine the joint depth, sawcut timing, and spacing of the jointed cement concrete pavement. This method has successfully been applied to a test section in Seohaean expressway. This study also summarizes the research results obtained from a field test for jointed plain concrete pavement, which was also carried out on the Seohaean expressway.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.69-76
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• 2015

PURPOSES : Performance evaluation of four types of asphalt concrete overlays for deteriorated national highways. METHODS : Pavement distress surveys for crack rate and rut depth have been conducted annually using an automated pavement survey vehicle since 2007. Linear and non-linear performance prediction models of the asphalt concrete overlays were developed for 43 sections. The service life of the asphalt overlays was defined as the number of years after which a crack rate of 30% or rut depth of 15mm is observed. RESULTS : The service life of the asphalt overlays was estimated as 17.4 years on an average. In 90.7% of the sections, the service life of the overlays was 15 years or more which is 1.5 times the life of conventional asphalt concrete overlays used in national highways. The performance of the overlays was dependent on the type of asphalt mixture, traffic volume levels, and environmental conditions. CONCLUSIONS : The usage of stone mastic asphalt (SMA) and polymer-modified asphalt (PMA) for the overlays provided good resistance to cracking and rutting development. It is recommended that appropriate asphalt concrete overlays must be applied depending on the type of existing pavement distress.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.6 no.2 s.20
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• pp.47-59
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• 2004

The temperature variation of concrete pavement at early-age significantly affects the initiation and propagation of its early-age cracks. This implies that the measurement and analysis of early age temperature trend are necessary to examine the causes of early age cracks in the concrete pavement. In this study, it is investigated how the early age temperature trend in concrete pavement affects the random crack initiation and behaviors of saw-cut joints using the actual construction site which is located at the KHC test road. During 72 hours after placing the concrete pavement, the ambient air temperature and temperatures at the top, middle, and bottom in concrete pavement were measured and the random crack initiation in concrete slabs and early age behaviors in the joints were surveyed. The investigation results indicate that the first random crack was initiated at one of the slabs placed in the early morning which have higher temperature changes during early 72 hours. The movement of slab was influenced by the early-age crack in the joint. It suggested that the different occurrence time of the cracks in the joint had an influence on the behavior of the cracks. Besides, the slab constructed In the morning had higher possibility of crack initiation than that in the afternoon. The rarely occurred cracks had bigger gap than other cracks.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.4 no.2 s.12
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• pp.33-42
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• 2002

The cracks in the pavements result from drying shrinkage, temperature change, repeated traffic loadings and so on. The reduction of soil support, spatting and many local failures are caused by water and incompressible foreign materials infiltrated into the cracks. In order to reduce this kind of problems the crack width must be controlled and managed by the accurate measurement. The current method is a visual survey using a microscope, which requires traffic blocking. The purpose of this study is to find the best condition to measure accurate crack width using automated pavement condition survey equipment running at the similar speed as other vehicles. In this study pavement surfaces are filmed on an enlarged scale by the camera with a zoom lens, and then the proper focal distance is determined according to the crack width through a pilot survey. The conditions for measurement of the accurate crack width using the image processing technique are suggested by comparing crack widths surveyed using a microscope in the field with those computed by various factors in the image processing program, STADI-2. In conclusion, the camera with a focal distance of 75m could detect crack range of 0.5mm$\sim$1.2mm In width with an accuracy of 80% for CRCP. The camera with a focal distance of 12.5mm could detect crack range of 1.8mm$\sim$3.3mm in width with an accuracy of 90% for asphalt pavement.

• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.75-81
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• 2007

The concrete pavement of the Seohae Highway in Korea has suffered from serious distress, only four to seven years after construction. Deterioration due to Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR) has seldom been reported per se in Korea, because the aggregate used for the cement concrete has been considered safe against alkali-silica reaction so far. The purpose of this study is to examine the deterioration caused by an alkali-silica reaction of concrete pavement in Korea. The investigation methods included visual inspection and Automatic Road Analyzer (ARAN) analysis of surface cracks, coring for internal cracks, stereo microscopic analysis, scanning electronic microscope (SEM) analysis, and electron dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDX) analysis. The results are presented as follows: the crack pattern of the concrete pavement in Korea was longitudinal cracking, map cracking or D-cracking. Local areas of damage were noticed four to five years after construction. The cracks started from edges or joints and spread out to slabs. The most intensive cracking was observed at the intersection of the transverse and longitudinal joints. Where cracking was the most intense, pieces of concrete and aggregate had spalled away from top surface and joint interface area. The progress of deterioration was very fast. The reaction product of alkali-silica gel was clearly identified by its generally colorless, white, or very pale yellow hue seen through a stereo optical microscopy. The typical locations of the reaction product were at the interface between aggregate and cement paste in a shape of a rim, within aggregate particles in the cracks, and in the large void in the cement paste. Most of the white products were found at interface or internal aggregates. SEM and EDX analysis confirmed that the white gel was a typical reaction product of ASR. The ASR gel in Korea mainly consisted of Silicate (Si) and Potassium (K) from the cement. The crack in the concrete pavement was caused by ASR. It seems that Korea is no longer safe from alkali-silica reaction.

• Land and Housing Review
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.95-104
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• 2020

This study aims to explore a purely mechanistic pavement analysis approach where viscoelasticity and fracture of asphalt mixtures are considered to accurately predict deformation and damage behavior of flexible pavements. To do so, the viscoelastic and fracture properties of designated pavement materials are obtained through experiments and a fully mechanistic damage analysis is carried out using a finite element method (FEM). While modeling crack development can be done in various ways, this study uses the cohesive zone approach, which is a well-known fracture mechanics approach to efficiently model crack initiation and propagation. Different pavement configurations and traffic loads are considered based on three main functional classes of roads suggested by FHWA i.e., arterial, collector and local. For each road type, three different material combinations for asphalt concrete (AC) and base layers are considered to study damage behavior of pavement. A concept of the approach is presented and a case study where three different material combinations for AC and base layers are considered is exemplified to investigate progressive damage behavior of pavements when mixture properties and layer configurations were altered. Overall, it can be concluded that mechanistic pavement modeling attempted in this study could differentiate the performance of pavement sections due to varying design inputs. The promising results, although limited yet to be considered a fully practical method, infer that a few mixture tests can be integrated with the finite element modeling of the mixture tests and subsequent structural modeling of pavements to better design mixtures and pavements in a purely mechanistic manner.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.7 no.2 s.24
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• pp.1-12
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• 2005

This study was conducted to evaluate effect of geogrid and fabric, which are used underneath the overlaid asphalt pavement for retarding reflection cracking by simulated laboratory test. In this study, an interlayer at the interface between old concrete pavement surface and overlaid asphalt mixture, and polymer-modifier were used as an effort of retarding reflection crack initiation and for strengthening mixture. Five products were used in preparation of asphalt concrete beam specimen which was tack coated on top of jointed concrete block. Simulated Mode I and II fracture test were conducted under wheel loading and results were compared among those products. From the test results, several material and reinforcement combinations were observed to have a significant retardation effect against reflection cracking. The most effectively strengthened pavement against reflection cracking was found to be the LDPE-modifier asphalt mixture with a grid reinforcement at the bottom.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2017

PURPOSES: The objectives of this study are to develop a new cold-applied crack sealant and to evaluate its properties and field applicability by comparing with other conventionally used crack sealants. METHODS : A new cold-applied crack sealant was developed by using neoprene latex to improve material properties. The fundamental properties such as viscosity, residue %, penetration, and softening point of the developed crack sealant were tested by TxDOT criteria to evaluate crack sealing capability. Moreover, the performance of the developed cold-applied crack sealant was evaluated under both laboratory and field conditions. In the laboratory, the bond property was evaluated using the developed cold-applied crack sealant and conventional hot-applied crack sealant by the bond-properties test standardized under ASTM D 6690. In the field, test sections were constructed on three areas: a trunk road, bus-only lane, and motorway, with the developed crack sealant and three conventional crack sealants. After construction, early field-inspection was performed on the test sections. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS : Overall, the developed cold-applied crack sealant demonstrates reasonable storage stability, durability, and bond property compared to conventional hot-applied crack sealants. From the test sections, it was established that the developed cold-applied crack sealant does not pose construction issues. Moreover, the early performance was verified through field inspection. However, as the field inspection was conducted a week after the construction, it is necessary to conduct an inspection of performance from a long-term point of view.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.98-101
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• 2003

The Alkali-Aggregate Reaction (AAR) may cause a serious failure in the concrete structures. Several researchers in some nations have performed the continuous studies to prevent failure of a concrete structures by the AAR distress as well as the studies to manifest the mechanism. The ASTM Standards to prevent failure by potential AAR aggregates were established in 1950. The KS F2545 and KS F 2546 were established to test the susceptibility of aggregate to potential AAR in 1982. But the researches on the AAR have not been performed affluently in Korea because the distress due to AAR has seldom been reported officially. In this study, the Chemical Method and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were used to verifying the cause of the pattern crack on the surface and internal crack in the plain concrete pavement. It can be concluded that the distress of a specific site in plain concrete pavement was mainly due to AAR, and the chemical method and SEM may be the effective tools for verifying the cause of AAR distresses.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.73-83
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• 2016

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to develop a method for improving the accuracy of analysis results obtained from a two-dimensional (2-D) numerical analysis model of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP). METHODS : The analysis results from the 2-D numerical model of CRCP are compared with those from more rigorous three-dimensional (3-D) models of CRCP, and the relationships between the results are recognized. In addition, the numerical analysis results are compared with the results obtained from field experiments. By performing these comparisons, the calibration factors used for the 2-D CRCP model are determined. RESULTS : The results from the comparisons between 2-D and 3-D CRCP analyses show that with the 2-D CRCP model, concrete stresses can be overestimated significantly, and crack widths can either be underestimated or overestimated by a slight margin depending on the assumption of plane stress or plane strain. The behaviors of crack width in field measurements are comparable to those obtained from the numerical model of CRCP. CONCLUSIONS : The accuracy of analysis results from the 2-D CRCP model can be improved significantly by applying calibration factors obtained from comparisons with 3-D analyses and field experiments.