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Structural Factors of Jointed Plain and Concrete Pavements: SPS-2 - Initial Evaluation and Analysis

Publication Number: FHWA-HRT-01-167
Date: April 2005

Structural Factors of Jointed Plain and Concrete Pavements: SPS-2 - Initial Evaluation and Analysis

FOREWORD

The Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program Specific Pavement Studies 2 (SPS-2) experiment, Strategic Study of Structural Factors of Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP), is one of the key components of the LTPP program. The main objective of this experiment is to determine the relative influence and long-term effectiveness of JPCP design features and site conditions on performance. This report documents the first comprehensive review and evaluation of the SPS-2 experiment as it exists today. The evaluation concludes that many important and useful findings and results can be obtained from the SPS-2 sites despite several limitations resulting from not constructing a few of the test sites and a few construction deviations that occurred. In addition, some materials and traffic data are missing from some sites or sections. These data are important to achieving the objectives of the experiment, and are now being sought from the SPS-2 sites.

Some interesting and important early trends have been identified that will be useful to the design and construction of JPCP, even though the oldest sections were no more than 7.5 years old at the time of this study. As time and traffic loadings accumulate at the SPS-2 sites, additional valuable performance data will be obtained. For example, the direct comparison of performance of designs with and without a permeable subdrainage layer is of intense interest to the State highway agencies. Future analyses of the performance data from the SPS-2 experiment will lead to new and important findings on the value of subdrainage, base type (treated and unbound), widened lanes, strength of concrete, subgrade soil, traffic level, and climate. These findings will lead to more reliable and cost-effective designs of JPCP.

This report will be of interest to highway agency engineers involved in design, construction, and management of the pavements as well as future researchers who will analyze the performance of the SPS-2 sections.

Paul Teng, Director
Office of Infrastructure Research and Development

Notice

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the use of the information contained in this document. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

The U.S. Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trademarks or manufacturers' names appear in this report only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.

Quality Assurance Statement

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) provides high-quality information to serve Government, industry, and the public in a manner that promotes public understanding. Standards and policies are used to ensure and maximize the quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of its information. FHWA periodically reviews quality issues and adjusts its programs and processes to ensure continuous quality improvement.

1. Report No. FHWA-RD-01-167	2. Government Accession No.			3. Recipient's Catalog No.
4. Title and Subtitle STRUCTURAL FACTORS OF JOINTED PLAIN CONCRETE PAVEMENTS: SPS-2—INITIAL EVALUATION AND ANALYSIS				5. Report Date April 2005
				6. Performing Organization Code
7. Author(s) Y. Jane Jiang and Michael I. Darter				8. Performing Organization Report No.
9. Performing Organization Name and Address ERES ConsultantsA Division of Applied Research Associates, Inc.9030 Red Branch Road, Suite 210Columbia, MD 21045				10. Work Unit No. C6B
				11. Contract or Grant No. DTFH61-96-C-00003
12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Office of Engineering Research and Development Federal Highway Administration 6300 Georgetown Pike McLean, VA 22101-2296				13. Type of Report and Period Covered Draft Final Report October 1999 to February 2000
				14. Sponsoring Agency Code
15. Supplementary Notes Work was conducted as part of the LTPP Data Analysis Technical Support Contract.Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative (COTR): Cheryl Allen Richter, HRDI-13
16. Abstract The SPS-2 experiment, Strategic Study of Structural Factors for Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP), is one of the key components of the LTPP program. The main objective of this experiment is to determine the relative influence and long-term effectiveness of JPCP design features (including slab thickness, PCC flexural strength, base type and drainage, and slab width) and site conditions (traffic, subgrade type, climate) on performance. This report documents the first comprehensive review and evaluation of the SPS-2 experiment. Thirteen SPS-2 projects have been constructed with one additional site under construction. At each site, there are 12 core sections plus various numbers of supplemental sections. The data availability and completeness for the SPS-2 experiment are good overall. A high percentage of the SPS-2 data are at level E—greater than 82 percent for all data types, and greater than 99 percent for many. However, a significant amount of data are still missing, especially traffic, distress and faulting surveys, and key materials testing data. These deficiencies need to be addressed before a comprehensive analysis of the SPS-2 experiment is conducted. Required experimental pavement design factors and site conditions were compared with the actual constructed values. Most SPS-2 sections follow the experiment design for the large majority of the design factors. When comparing designed versus constructed, eight SPS-2 projects can be characterized as good to excellent, four projects are considered poor to fair, and one new SPS-2 project does not yet have enough data in the IMS database to be evaluated. The evaluation has shown that several problems may limit the results that can be obtained from the SPS-2 experiments if not rectified. Specifically, no SPS-2 projects were built on certain subgrade types and in some climates. Some SPS-2 sites had construction deviations, and significant materials data and traffic data are missing from other sites or sections. One site has excessive early cracking that will limit its usefulness. However, even though the SPS-2 sections are relatively young (oldest project is 7.5 years) and a large majority show no or little distress, some interesting and important early trends have already been identified that will be very useful to the design and construction of JPCP. As time and traffic loadings accumulate, much more valuable performance data will be obtained. The Federal Highway Administration is conducting a concerted effort to obtain missing data. Recommendations for future analyses are provided in the last chapter of this report. Valuable information will be obtained from this experiment if these studies are carried out.
17. Key Words Design factors, experimental design, JPCP, LTPP, performance trends, SPS-2.			18. Distribution Statement No restrictions. This document is available to the public through the National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA 22161.
19. Security Classif. (of this report) Unclassified		20. Security Classif. (of this page) Unclassified			21. No of Pages 203	22. Price

Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed pages authorized

Page Owner: Office of Research, Development, and Technology, Office of Infrastructure, RDT

Topics: research, infrastructure, pavements, concrete, design, jointed, fiber-reinforced polymer, FRP, dowels
Keywords: research, infrastructure, pavements and materials,Distress, LTPP, pavement, cracking, rutting, faulting
TRT Terms: research, facilities, transportation, highway facilities, roads, parts of roads, pavements
Scheduled Update: Archive - No Update needed

This page last modified on 03/08/2016

Structural Factors of Jointed Plain and Concrete Pavements: SPS-2 - Initial Evaluation and Analysis

FOREWORD

Notice

Quality Assurance Statement

SI* (Modern Metric) Conversion Factors

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES

LIST OF TABLES