Expedient Spall Repair Methods and Equipment for Airfield Pavements Preprint: Fid-Bau Portal

Expedient Spall Repair Methods and Equipment for Airfield Pavements Preprint

M. I. Hammons / A. Saeed

Selected equipment and procedures were evaluated to expeditiously prepare a spall for repair with rapid-setting materials. The objective of this research was to develop one or more methods to excavate and prepare a 2-foot- wide by 2-foot-long by 4-inch-deep spall for placement of a rapid-setting repair material in 15 minutes or less. A secondary objective was to correlate various excavation methods with a relative life expectancy of the repair. For five excavation methods, 2-foot-wide by 2-foot-long by 4-inch-deep spalls were excavated in triplicate. The spalls were subsequently repaired using a typical rapid-setting spall repair material. The efficacy of the repair methods and equipment were evaluated based upon petrographic examination of the substrate excavation, production rate, total production rate, in-situ tensile pull-off strength, direct shear bond strength, and performance under simulated F-15 wheel loading. Each of the methods evaluated had a significant improvement in production rate over the 30-pound jackhammer, the standard Department of Defense spall repair excavation method. The most efficient method was a cold planer, which, on average, was approximately 58 percent more efficient than the jackhammer. Of the methods evaluated, only the cold planer can meet the requirement of being able to excavate 2-foot square by 4-inch deep spall in no more than 15 minutes.