Improving the Foundation Layers for Concrete Pavements: Jointed Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation with Precast Concrete Pavement – California I-15 Field Study - TPF-5(183)

(2016) Improving the Foundation Layers for Concrete Pavements: Jointed Concrete Pavement Rehabilitation with Precast Concrete Pavement – California I-15 Field Study - TPF-5(183). Transportation, Department of

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Abstract

This report is one of the field project reports developed as part of the TPF-5(183) and FHWA DTFH 61-06-H-00011:WO18 studies. Precast concrete pavement (PCP) systems can be an effective and safe repair/rehabilitation alternative to cast-in-place pavements for projects in urban area highways with high traffic volumes where lane closures are a significant challenge. Based on these advantages and the success observed from accelerated pavement testing at a test site with PCP in San Bernardino, California, CalTrans opted for PCP rehabilitation over a four-mile section of I-15 near Ontario, California. The rehabilitation work involved removing an existing pavement built in the 1970s and replacing with PCP panels. The existing pavement consisted of portland cement concrete (PCC) pavement over cement treated base. PCPs were placed over 1.8 miles of the project and 34 intermittent panels. The total bid cost of the project was about $51.9 million. PCP systems constituted approximately $4.6 million of the total construction cost. Results of field testing and observations by the SHRP2 R05 and CalTrans and the Iowa State University (ISU) research team are summarized in this report. Results indicated that sections with PCP panels showed lower surface deflection values under falling weight deflectometer (FWD) loading than sections with the old pavement. Presence of bedding grout beneath the PCP panels reduced the surface deflections under FWD loading and showed less variability. PCP panels showed thin hair-line cracks several months after placement and the cracked panels correlated well with areas that had problems with placement and leveling of the bedding material. FWD testing conducted on the cement treated base (CTB) layer beneath the pavement layer showed that the CTB layer had an average moduli of over 7,200 MPa and subgrade layer had an average modulus of about 105 MPa and R-value of about 45.