ABSTRACT
As Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavements deteriorate, different maintenance and rehabilitation strategies are employed to extend the life of the pavement until it can be reconstructed. One common rehabilitation technique is the replacement of individual slabs. Typically, the removal of damaged slabs disturbs the underlying subbase or subgrade material and requires maintenance crews to restore the foundation conditions to acceptable standards prior to placement of a cast-in-place concrete replacement slab. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of foundation preparation on the performance of rapid-setting replacement slabs for airfield pavements. A full-scale PCC test section was constructed as representative of a typical PCC pavement. Selected slabs were removed, and different subbase layers were placed and compacted prior to completing the repair with a cast-in-place rapid-setting concrete slab. Once repaired, the rapid-setting replacement concrete slabs were trafficked with simulated aircraft traffic to evaluate their performance. The condition of the slabs was monitored and deterioration documented as a function of simulated aircraft passes. This paper describes the construction of the foundation, the repaired slabs, and the performance of the repairs. The results demonstrate that subbase quality has a very limited effect on the performance of the repairs, provided that minimum PCC repair thicknesses are met.
