Rehabilitation Procedures for Faulted Rigid Pavement: Fid-Bau Portal

Rehabilitation Procedures for Faulted Rigid Pavement

L. J. Bendana / W. S. Yang

Load-transfer devices (LTDs) used in New York from 1960 to 1972 produced significant joint faulting in pavements carrying high traffic volumes. This report describes results of an 8-year study conducted on Interstate 84, constructed in the late 1960s as a four-lane, 9-in. thick reinforced concrete highway with 60-ft 10-in. joint spacing. As a result of heavy commercial traffic and LTD failure, faulting became a serious problem by the 1970s. After extensive study without using LTD retrofitting, the rate of fault return was still significant. The investigation was extended to establish criteria for when various procedures for fault removal and load-transfer restoration might be effective. It is concluded that joint retrofitting is appropriate when slabs are in good condition and distress is mostly limited to LTD deficiencies at the joints. Total traffic loads strongly affect pavement/joint failure, and retrofitting is justified to retard fault recurrence. The optimum combination of retrofit quantity and spacing for a given pavement joint requires further experimentation, but life-cycle-cost analysis indicates that the Illinois LTDs are cost-effective in restoring load transfer.