CONCRETE PAVEMENT REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE STRATEGIES FOR

ROADS & HIGHWAYS

Dr. S. S. Seehra*

ABSTRACT

The rapid growth in road construction brought about considerable expansion of road infrastructure,
which subsequently fell

into disrepair through lack of maintenance. The damage is often so severe that ordinary maintenance
will no longer suffice

and if roads are to be fully restored, rehabilitation or even reconstruction work is necessary, at a life
cycle cost three to seven

times higher than that of preventive maintenance strategies.

Rigid pavements have a relatively long service life if these are properly designed, constructed and
maintained. Rigid

pavements can serve up to its design service life and even beyond if timely repairs are undertaken. All
types of pavements

deteriorate with time. Rate of deterioration is comparatively much slower than flexible pavements.

Pavement Maintenance is more than just a collective set of specific pavement maintenance techniques.
It is a way of thinking

and the guiding force behind an agency’s financial planning and proper asset management. Pavement
management must

be tailored to each road agency’s system needs to cater to the need of various pavement distresses in
the most cost effective

manner. This involves using a variety of treatments and pavement repairs to extend the pavement life.

The most of the Pavement Designs involve two or more performance periods. A pavement is
constructed at an initial
serviceability level, and is rehabilitated to an acceptable level at some point of time during its design life.
This process of

rehabilitation may be repeated several times depending on the condition of the existing pavement
deteriorating from time

to time

A Maintenance Management System (MMS) is a technique or operational methodology for managing or

directing and

controlling the judicious use of maintenance resources. Effective MMS is doing the correct thing at the
correct time and in

the correct place. For modern Rural Roads, Roads & Highways, to be operated efficiently and effectively
for the benefit of

all users, it is required to meet customer’s defined requirements. Road drainage performance plays a
vital role in ensuring

the pavement performance.

Road Management System needs to be established on a computer system platform on client server
model at the headquarters

of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MORTH). Softwares for GIS, HDM, Image Processing
Software, Terrain

Modeling, Software and AutoCAD may be required for the proposed planning model. A resourceful
consortium of Consultants

having expertise in all these areas could be required to develop the system on a turnkey basis and hand
it over to the client,

after customizing and operationalizing it.

(Former) Scientist & Head, Rigid Pavements Division, CSIR-CRRI & Senior Principal Advisor, LEA
Associates South Asia Pvt. Ltd.,

New Delhi, Email: seehra62@yahoo.co.in

• Fuel efficient
• Life Cycle Cost is Lower than Flexible Pavements

• Best Suited for Weaker sub-grades, and water

logged areas

• Can Bridge over the deformations in the sub-grade

1.2 Disadvantages

• Loses non-skid surface with time

1. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF

RIGID PAVEMENT

1.1 Advantages

• Good durability

• Long service life

• Withstand repeated flooding and subsurface water

without deterioration

• Low Maintenance Cost

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• Needs even sub-grade with uniform settling

• May fault at transverse joints

• Driving becomes difficult due to glaring effect of

sun

1.3 Type of Distresses

• Cracking

• Potholes

• Joint deficiencies/Spalling

• Faulting/Stepping

1.4 Causes of Distresses

Pavement deteriorates due to overloading of heavy

commercial vehicles, ingress of water, poor road

drainage system, Inadequacies in the initial design and

specifications, poor Quality of Road Construction, Lack

of adequate support from the lower pavement layers. A

proper & timely maintenance will prolong the life of a

pavement system, The maintenance of pavements follow

the age old saying “ A stitch in time, saves nine “ .

Distresses of Rigid Pavement

Photo-1 Cracking

Photo-3 Joint Deficiencies/Spalling

Photo-2 Potholes
Photo-4 Faulting/Stepping

1.5 Pavement Condition Index (PCI)

• PCI is a numerical indicator of overall pavement

condition

• It takes into account the roughness and distresses

of pavement

• It is used for:

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As trigger to plan maintenance and rehabilitation

activities

Identification of immediate pavement maintenance

and rehabilitation needs

Ranking of road for maintenance and

rehabilitation

Developing road maintenance for short-and long-

term plans, and budget

Policy for minimum service level for various roads

Pavement Maintenance System (PMS)

Pavement Maintenance is more than just a collective set

of specific pavement maintenance techniques. It is a way

of thinking and the guiding force behind an agency’s

financial planning and proper asset management. Pavement

management must be tailored to each road agency’s system

needs to cater the need of various pavement distresses

in the most cost effective manner. This involves using a

variety of treatments and pavement repairs to extend the

pavement life.

1.6 Effect of different maintenance strategies

The most of the Pavement Designs involve two or more

performance periods. A pavement is constructed at an initial

serviceability level, and is rehabilitated to an acceptable

level at some point of time during its design life. This

process of rehabilitation may be repeated depending on

the condition of the existing pavement deteriorating from

time to time.

1.7 Maintenance Management Systems (MMS):

A MMS is a technique or operational methodology for

managing or directing and controlling the judicious use

of maintenance resources. Effective MMS is doing the

correct thing at the correct time and in the correct place.

For modern Roads & Highways, to be operated efficiently

and effectively for the benefit of all users, it is required

to meet customer’s defined requirements. Road drainage

performance plays a vital role in ensuring the pavement

performance.

1.8 Pavement Management Systems (PMS)

PMS constitutes the following aspects:

• Pavement Condition Data

• Maintenance Standards

• Economic Analysis

• Programming

• Control of Works and Feedback.

• Budgetary Analysis

1.9 Maintenance Management Planning Stages

• Inventory

• Condition Data

• Maintenance Standards

• Elementary Analysis

• Budgetary Analysis

• Programming

• Works Manual and Feedback

1.10 Assessment of Maintenance Needs

Maintenance needs are assessed every year as part of

planning

Considering the following factors:

• Traffic
• Survey

• Visual rating

• Roughness measurements

• Axle Load Survey

2. FUTURE CHALLENGES AND SUGGESTIONS

There is a need for the guidelines on the strategic

maintenance of rigid pavements, which should be easy

to use, understandable and cost- effective and provide

uniformity in evaluation process and management

methodology, Good quality information about road

conditions is an essential pre-requisite for sound decision

making about the need for road maintenance, and type of

treatment that is subsequently applied.

A greater emphasis is also likely to be placed on improving

communication with road users to provide them with up-

to-date and reliable advice about the condition of the

road, The very wide use of roads, and their impact upon

those which they serve, offer great challenges to Road

Maintenance Engineers to ensure that the assets for whose

upkeep they are responsible are maintained for the benefit

and convenience of all the road users.

Most important aspects of the future challenges are, Where

does the future of Pavement Management Systems go from

here? How can we upgrade and improve the technology of

the Pavement Management System? How can we improve

the Pavement Management System itself?

No existing system is directly applicable to another agency,

do not be afraid to take advantage of the benefits of others’

experience. Much could be gained from expert sources

with previous experience in the Pavement Management

Systems.

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2.1 Rigid Pavement Repairs and Maintenance

• Concrete pavement restoration (CPR)

• Crack sealing

• Longitudinal Cross crack stitching

• Diamond grinding for rectification of pavement

faulting

• Dowel bar retrofit

• Isolated, partial or full depth concrete repair

• Joint resealing

• Repair of edge spall and corner

• Breaks of slabs

• Slab lifting or slab jacking or under-sealing

• Ultra-thin white topping

• Evaluate Structural Adequacy

• Causative factors that cause

• Distress

• Select the course of maintenance

• Patching

• Sealing

• Re-Surfacing

2.2 Emerging Repair Materials

The emerging repair materials for the maintenance of

rigid pavements are: High strength and high performance

concrete using fly ash and silica fume, synthetic resins,

magnesium phosphate cement, magnesium oxy-chloride

cement, silicon sealant, poly-urethane sealant, sulphur and

sand mortars

2.3 Strategic Repair and Rehabilitation Techniques

It has been often said that there is a tendency to “build

pavements and forget them.” Reconstruction, as a form of

rehabilitation for highway rigid pavements as the existing

pavements continue to deteriorate and demand increased

maintenance costs. Advances have been made in recent

years in the development and use of quick setting and

rapidly hardening materials for repair and rehabilitation

of rigid pavements.

2.4 Highway Design and Maintenance (HDM)

Standards:

The World Bank has developed the Highway Design and

Maintenance standards model and its version-4 (HDM-4)

is at present in use. HDM-4 has been calibrated for Indian

deterioration and user cost models and customized for the

chosen computer system platform which will bring the

planning process to the state-of-the art level.

Road network maps can be digested using Survey of

India (SOI) base maps and the mapping data can be held

in the Geographic Information System (GIS) format

in a cartographic database for road condition and road

inventory surveys. The entire road management system

needs to be established on a computer system platform

on client server model at the headquarters of Ministry of

Road Transport & Highways (MoRT&H).

2.5 Salient Features of Modern Maintenance Systems

for Rigid Pavements

A modern and developed Maintenance System--

• Manages, directs and controls the judicious use of

resources

• Advocates use of correct techniques at the correct

time and in the correct scenario

• Benefits all users and meets customer’s defined

requirements

• Takes care of important factors like road drainage

performance etc. that play vital role in ensuring the

pavement performance

• Employs modern technology using computer

system platforms on client server model

• Also integrates, while planning, incumbent softwares

for GIS, HDM, Image Processing Software, Terrain

Modeling, Software and Auto CAD etc.

• Takes input from a resourceful consortium of

consultants having wide expertise

• Is customizable as per the requirements of the

customer/client

• Gives out unique and correct solutions for periodic

maintenance

• Prepares maintenance schedule

• Gives understandable output

• Seeks continuous feedback and inputs

• Takes into account dynamic situations like change

of use and traffic volume etc.

• Is flexible to suit the user and area of application

• Detects errors in processing and analysis

• Prepares a database of the suggestions/

recommendations and implemented techniques and

their effectiveness

3. TYPICAL PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT

STRATEGIC TREATMENTS

3.1 Maintenance Matrix

Rigid Pavements

• Concrete pavement restoration (CPR)

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• Crack sealing

• Cross crack stitching ( Longitudinal and Transverse

crack)

• Diamond grinding for rectification of pavement

faulting

• Dowel bar retrofit

• Isolated, partial or full depth concrete repair

• Joint resealing

• Repair of edge spall and corner breaks of slabs

• Slab lifting or slab jacking or under sealing

• Ultra thin white topping

4. DEFECTS IN RIGID PAVEMENTS

Potholes, Scaling, Blow-ups, mud pumping, spalling,

Loss of Sealant, Cracking (longitudinal, transverse,

reflection, sympathetic), corrugation, joint deficiencies

and faulting. ( However, the considered distresses were

Cracking, Potholes, joint deficiencies and faulting in the

data collection procedures)

5. RECONSTRUCTION

When the existing pavements are badly in distressed

condition:

For reconstruction, the existing pavements are

removed, recycled and used as a fill material filter

course, sub-base or as an aggregate for the new

pavements.

A new concept in concrete pavement reconstruction

in the future is roller compacted concrete pavement

and its applicability to high density corridors as a

lower layer comprising of DLC and top wearing

course as PQC when laid with sensor slip-form

paving machines.

6. EMERGING REPAIR MATERIALS

The emerging repair materials for the maintenance of

rigid pavements:

Rigid Pavements:

• High strength and high performance concrete using

fly ash and silica fume.

• Synthetic resins, magnesium phosphate cement,

magnesium oxy-chloride cement, silicon sealant

poly-urethane sealant, sulphur and sand mortars.

Photo-5 Joint and crack filling prior to the application of a new surface treatment.

Rigid Pavement Maintenance

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Photo-6 Join and crack filling prior to the application of a new surface treatment.

Join and

crack filling

prior to the

application of

a new surface

treatment.

7. CONCLUSIONS

• The traffic on roads is likely to increase enormously

in the futuristic scenario

• To meet the demand optimally, and thereby to

ensure rapid economic progress of the country, it is

essential to develop and establish an efficient road

and highway planning and management system.

• Effort is also required to integrate various systems

related to highway management system carried out

in India and abroad

• Maintenance-by-Contract of Highways should be

privatized or as a part of construction contract to

reduce the burden on the exchequer.

• We should follow-up strict construction supervision

and stringent quality control measures and must

protect our investment with minimal maintenance

costs.

• Proper rigid pavement design, regular inspection

and maintenance of drainage system is of utmost

importance in preserving the investment made on

the construction of highway rigid pavements.

• The roads and highways maintenance strategies

would be useful to reduce the losses caused due to

bad condition of roads

8. RECOMMENDATIONS

• After having the pavement assessment and

evaluation done, strategic maintenance and

rehabilitation should be considered, including

full-depth patching, joint sealing and sub-surface

drainage, repairing of cracks, repairing of spalled

joints, grout jacking of slabs, reconstruction, etc.

• All patches shall preferably be full depths;

misaligned dowel bars create high load transfer

stresses at the joints.

• “D” cracking (D-shape) of slabs is caused by poor

quality aggregates that absorb water and swell on

freezing near joints and the slab cracks causing

severe and rapid loss of pavement serviceability.

• Pumping causes significant loss of pavement

serviceability and could be reduced by providing

proper sub- drainage.

• Dowel bars of diameter 35 mm at 300 mm centre to

centre are recommended to reduce the occurrence

of faulting.

• The chloride and sulphate contents in the concrete

required for rehabilitation and maintenance shall

not be more than 0.15% and 4.0% by weight of

cement respectively.

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• It is preferable to use high performance concrete or

portland slag cement concrete for maintenance of

concrete roads, especially in coastal areas.

• At the present time, it is assumed that strategic

operational maintenance costs of rigid pavements

are approximately equivalent to the repair costs

for flexible Pavements. Currently there is no

sufficient data available in the cost accounting

system to determine with good reliability if there

is any difference. It is recommended that selected

pavement types for high speed corridor segments

be identified and monitored for operational

maintenance costs.

• Repair and maintenance of rigid pavements in

heavy traffic areas is very much concerned to the

motorists who have to use the high-speed corridors

during periodic maintenance operations.

• An economic formula should be used to compare

the cost of rigid pavement options on an annual

maintenance costs per kilometer basis for

corridors

9. FUTURISTIC SCENARIO OF RIGID

PAVEMENTS

• The bituminous resources are dwindling day by day

in the country vis-à-vis Portland cement, and rigid

pavement is one alternative economical solution in

today’s transportation system.

• The principle to “think globally and act locally” is

to be ensured for rigid pavement construction at all

costs.

• Portland Cement is the manmade material and

now its supply is in abundance for construction

of rigid pavements apart from its use in building

construction activities.

• Experience has shown over the years that rigid

pavements should be well designed, fully

mechanized, quality construction and contractually

well maintained otherwise in the absence of that

they being the best are the worst than the Flexible

Pavements

• The Strong Message is “to do things right first time

and every time” in the rigid pavement construction

industry otherwise one gets a little or no chance to

correct the mistakes occurred during the process

of construction of rigid pavements and then those

mistakes will be corrected at great expense.

• Above all, the futuristic scope of rigid pavements as

on today is very much promising than other types

of pavements including flexible pavements due to

its techno- economic benefits.

ANNOUNCEMENT

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

ROURKELA, ODISHA

The Department of Civil Engineering of National Institute of Technology is pleased to announce that

they are organizing a Short Term Course on “New Technology Application in Road Pavements” (NTARP)

during January 12-16, 2019 at their Institute. For more details regarding the course and registration
please

visit Institute website: http:/www.nitrkl.ac.in.Academics/Events/CEP.aspx

IRC TECHNICAL COMMITTEES MEETING SCHEDULE FOR JANUARY, 2019

Date Day Time Name of the Committee

04-01-19 Fri 10.30 AM

Brain Storming Session on formulation of National Bridge

Code & National Road Code

11-01-19 Fri 02.30 PM Road Maintenance & Asset Management Committee (H-6)

19-01-19 Sat 11.00 AM

Concrete (Plain, Reinforced and Prestressed) Structures

Committee (B-4)

31-01-19 Sat 11.00 AM

Sub-Group of Guidelines on Cable Stayed Bridges