Grid Reinforcement in HMA Overlays - A Field Case Study of Highway US 59 in Atlanta District of Texas

One of the common methods to mitigate reflective cracking, in existing cracked pavements, is the use of interlayer grid reinforcements in hot-mix asphalt (HMA) overlay construction during maintenance and/or rehabilitation projects. As a means of sharing the practical experience, lessons learned, and demonstrating the performance benefits of using interlayer grid-reinforcements, this paper presents a field case study where different types of grid reinforcements were used in HMA overlay construction to mitigate reflective cracking and thereafter, field performance was monitored and evaluated periodically. Two HMA overlay test sections (denoted as Sec13 and Sec14), reinforced with different grid materials were constructed in 2011 over an existing cracked HMA pavement (with transverse cracks) on an in-service highway, US 59 in the Atlanta District of Texas. Field performance was subsequently monitored/evaluated for a period of over seven years against an adjacent Control section (Sec01), without grid reinforcement, on the same US 59 highway. Under the same pavement structure, traffic loading, and climatic conditions, various performance indices were evaluated semi-annually including reflective cracking, rutting, longitudinal surface profiles, and interlayer bonding. While the rutting performance was indifferent on all the three test sections after 7 years of service, 17% of reflective cracking was measured on the Control section versus 4% on the grid-reinforced test sections – demonstrating that the use of grid reinforcement has been effective in mitigating reflective cracking from the existing cracked HMA pavement. Similarly, while coring indicated satisfactory interlayer bonding conditions on all the three test sections, the Control section (Sec01) exhibited superiority in terms of the longitudinal surface profile performance (i.e., surface smoothness/serviceability index) than the grid-reinforced test sections.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFD30 Standing Committee on General and Emerging Pavement Design.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Walubita, Lubinda F
  • Mahmoud, Enad
  • Lee, Sang Ick
  • Komba, Julius J
  • Nyamuhokya, Tito P
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2019-1-13 to 2019-1-17
• Date: 2019

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 8p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Hot mix asphalt; Overlays (Pavements); Reflection cracking; Rutting; Smoothness; Test sections
• Uncontrolled Terms: Grid reinforcement; Interlayer bonding
• Geographic Terms: Atlanta (Texas)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01698457
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 19-02991
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 2 2019 3:41PM