Seal coat damage evaluation due to superheavy load moves based on a mechanistic-empirical approach.

654807910Technical report; Sept. 2007-Aug. 2009.PDFTech ReportFHWA/TX-10/0-5270-1PavementsAsphalt pavementsLive loadsPavement designPavement maintenanceQuality controlTexasTexas Transportation InstituteOh, Jeong HoWimsatt, Andrew J.Texas Transportation InstituteTexas. Dept. of TransportationUnited States. Federal Highway AdministrationNTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-MaterialsNTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-Pavement Management and PerformanceNTL-HIGHWAY/ROAD TRANSPORTATION-Construction and MaintenanceUS Transportation CollectionThe number of superheavy load (SHL) moves has increased drastically within the past 5 years inTexas. Along with the increasing SHL moves, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) hasbecome increasingly aware of the rising concerns associated with fresh seal coat damage caused from SHLmoves. Concerned about the effects of SHL moves on seal coat placed routes, TxDOT sponsored a researchproject with the Texas Transportation Institute to characterize critical factors related to the failure mechanismof seal coat, propose a mechanistic approach to evaluate failure potential, and develop a guideline forregulating SHL moves to mitigate further seal coat damages.This report describes research efforts and findings to propose a mechanistic approach to evaluate sealcoat damage potential via charactering material properties playing a vital role in controlling seal coatbehavior subject to SHL moves and validating the proposed mechanistic approach based on pilot field testsconducted in the Bryan and San Antonio Districts taking into account different levels of critical factorsidentified from this study. Moreover, the efforts were extended to establish a database on SHL routinginformation gathered from the TxDOT Construction Division from the pavement reviews conducted over thepast 5 years in order to review the current guideline for SHLs. The project offered the first opportunity toprovide a guideline for regulating SHL moves in order to preserve routes with fresh seal coats by delivering atool that can be used to evaluate the route in a timely fashion before SHL moves occur