PERFORMANCE OF MICHIGAN'S POSTWAR CONCRETE PAVEMENTS

IN 1963, THE MICHIGAN STATE HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT BEGAN A SURVEY OF PAVEMENTS THAT HAD BEEN IN SERVICE FOR 5, 10, AND 15 YEARS. CONDITION AND ROUGHNESS SURVEYS WERE CONDUCTED ON 520 CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS WHICH WERE CONSIDERED IDENTIFIABLE UNITS. PRELIMINARY ANALYSES SHOWED WEAK RELATIONSHIPS WITH ONLY MINOR DISTRESS AT 5 YEARS SO THE MAJOR EFFORT IS PLACED ON 10 AND 15-YEAR OLD PAVEMENTS THAT WERE RELATIVELY OBSOLETE IN DESIGN SINCE THEY CONTAINED 1 INCH DOWELS, 99 FOOT SLABS, AND POOR JOINT SEALANTS. MEASUREMENTS WERE MADE OF TRANSVERSE AND LONGITUDINAL CRACKING, CORNER BREAKS, SPALLS, BLOW-UPS, MUD JACKING, PATCHING, AND INFILTRATION CRACKING. IT WAS FOUND THAT MOST OF THESE DEFECTS INCREASED DIRECTLY WITH TIME. ROUGHNESS MEASUREMENTS WERE EVALUATED AND REJECTED AS AN INEFFECTIVE MEASURE OF RIGID PAVEMENT CONDITION. NINE VARIABLES WERE SELECTED AND COMBINED BY MULTIPLE REGRESSION INTO A STRUCTURAL DETERIORATION INDEX THAT IS SIMILAR TO THE PSI MEASURE BUT MORE SENSITIVE TO THE STRUCTURAL CONDITION. THE INDEX IS SUMMED OVER TIME TO OBTAIN A PERFORMANCE TYPE CONCEPT THAT IS LABELED "DEPRECIATION." THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL, ADT, SUBBASE, AND COARSE AGGREGATE WERE INVESTIGATED AND IT WAS FOUND THAT THE ADT AND THE AMOUNT OF SOFT PARTICLES IN THE AGGREGATE HAVE THE MOST EFFECT ON PERFORMANCE. EXCELLENT PHOTOS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF VARIOUS TYPES OF DISTRESS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS ARE ALSO INCLUDED. /BPR/ REFERENCES: PORTIONS OF THIS REPORT ARE BEING PRESENTED AT THE 1970 HRB MEETING IN "AN EXAMINATION OF CONCRETE PAVEMENT STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE", L. F. HOLBROOK.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Hpr, 39 F-7 (15)
• Corporate Authors:

  Michigan Department of State Highways

  State Highways Building, PO Drawer K
  Lansing, MI  United States  48904

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Oehler, L T
  • Holbrook, L F
• Publication Date: 1969-8

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Average daily traffic; Concrete pavements; Defects; Evaluation; Longitudinal cracking; Measurement; Pavement cracking; Pavement distress; Pavement performance; Pavements; Regression analysis; Roughness; Serviceability; Transverse cracking
• Uncontrolled Terms: Serviceability Index
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Design; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00206393
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Feb 9 1970 12:00AM