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Rehabilitation

Repairs and overlays that restore a worn pavement's structure or ride: full- and partial-depth repairs, dowel bar retrofit, recycling and structural overlays.

Reviewed by licensed engineers · How we review

  • Overview

    • Introduction to Rehabilitation

      The combined effects of traffic loading and the environment will cause every pavement, no matter how well-designed/constructed to deteriorate over time.

    • Overlay

      An overlay is any operation that consists of laying either Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) or Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) over an existing pavement structure.

  • Overlays on asphalt pavements

    • Structural HMA Overlays for HMA Pavement

      Structural overlays are used to increase pavement structural capacity. Therefore, they are considered rehabilitation, although they typically have some maintenance-type benefits as well.

      Calculator: Structural overlay thickness

    • Structural PCC Overlays for HMA Pavement

      A PCC overlay of an existing flexible pavement, called "whitetopping", is a newer, viable rehabilitation alternative for flexible pavements.

    • Thin Whitetopping

      Thin Whitetopping (TWT) is a 4 to 7 in. thick concrete overlay bonded to an existing ACP to create a composite section. TWT is typically constructed at intersections where rutting and shoving in asphalt pavement continue to cause problems.

  • Overlays on concrete pavements

    • Structural PCC Overlays for PCC Pavement

      PCC overlays of existing rigid pavements restore structural capacity. How the 1993 AASHTO Guide designs unbonded and bonded overlays.

    • Bonded Concrete Overlay

      This chapter describes bonded concrete overlays (BCO) on CRCP, not on CPCD. BCO is not a good option for the rehabilitation of CPCD.

      ASTM E965

    • Unbonded Concrete Overlay

      The PCC overlay pavement rehabilitation technique consisting of a concrete layer over existing PCC pavement with an interlayer between them to break the bond is called an unbonded concrete overlay.

    • Structural HMA Overlays for PCC Pavement

      HMA structural overlays are used to increase rigid pavement structural capacity. Therefore, they are considered rehabilitation, although they typically have some maintenance-type benefits as well.

    • Thin ACP Overlays on CRCP

      The service life of an older existing CRCP pavement can often be extended by many years by the addition of a thin Asphalt Concrete Overlay (ACP), sometimes as thin as approximately 2” depending upon the rehabilitation goals and mixture…

  • Concrete repair

    • Full-Depth Repair

      In concrete pavement contraction design (CPCD), the following distresses require FDR:

      Calculator: Patch quantity

    • Partial Depth Repair Procedures

      The following procedures need to be followed for PDR:

    • Dowel Bar Retrofit

      Dowel bar retrofitting is a method used to restore or provide better load transfer across transverse joints or cracks using dowel bars.

    • Dowel Bar Retrofit Construction Practices

      The following describes and illustrates the dowel bar retrofit construction process. In addition, descriptions of critical details for ensuring pavement performance are also included.

    • Dowel Bar Retrofit Procedures

      The following describes the steps needed to complete the DBR.

    • Stitching

      Stitching is a rehabilitation technique used at cracks to maintain aggregate interlock and provide added reinforcement to minimize the relative movement of concrete slabs at the cracks.

    • Retro-fitting Concrete Shoulders

      Most of the rigid pavements constructed before the mid 1980’s did not include a tied concrete shoulder.

  • Recycling

    • Cold In-Place Recycling

      Cold in-place recycling (CIR) is the processing and treatment with bituminous and/or chemical additives of existing HMA pavements without heating to produce a restored pavement layer (AASHTO, 1998).

    • Hot In-Place Recycling

      Hot in-place recycling (HIR) is a less common form of hot asphalt recycling. There are three basic HIR construction processes in use, all of which involve a specialized plant in a continuous train operation (FHWA, 2001c):

  • Asphalt Institute design methods

    • Component Analysis - Asphalt Institute

      The Asphalt Institute's component analysis design approach (termed "effective thickness" by the Asphalt Institute) uses relationships between subgrade strength, pavement structure, and traffic (Asphalt Institute, 1983).

    • Limiting Deflection - Asphalt Institute

      The basic approach of the overlay design procedure is to identify continuous pavement sections of uniform performance, obtain "static" pavement surface deflections with the Benkelman Beam or other device and determine the expected traffic…

    • Flexible Base Overlay

      The flexible base overlay has been used as an intermediate layer of a rehabilitated pavement structure, placed directly on top of an existing highway surface.

    • Flexible Base Thickening

      Flexible base thickening can be used to improve the structural capacity of low to moderate volume highways.