EVALUATION OF DISTRESS REASONS IN AIRPORT CONCRETE PAVEMENT AND REHABILITATION METHODS

The high cost of shutdowns for pavement maintenance and rehabilitation at airports results in significant impact on local and regional economies, in addition to unnecessary delays to the traveling public. Cracking, spalling and joint deterioration tends to be the most common causes of pavement failure in concrete pavement. Concrete pavements may occasionally exhibit early distress. This may occur while the concrete is still in plastic state or soon after concrete hardens. The most commonly encountered early distress are including Plastic shrinkage cracking, Edge slump, Joint spalling, Full-depth cracking. When early distress is observed, the cause of the failure should be identified and appropriate corrective measures taken to reduce the potential for the failure to develop again. Improper curing can have serious detrimental effects on near-term (plastic shrinkage cracking) and long term properties of hardened concrete (less durable surface, excessive warping). In this paper, we suggest alternatives to minimize failure in airport concrete pavement. Moreover, methods for concrete pavement repairing and some considerations are presented.

Keywords:

concrete pavement , edge slump , joint spalling , curing