Optimizing the Performance of Microsurfacing Treatments in Flexible Pavements and Assessing Its Effects on Moisture Damage

Abstract

Louisiana’s $6.3 million microsurfacing program is amongst the largest microsurfacing programs in the United States. As microsurfacing seals the road surface, the effectiveness of this treatment in such a setting has been a concern in recent years by linking it to moisture damage caused by the trapped moisture underneath the pavement especially in areas with shallow groundwater table. Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness and optimal timing of microsurfacing applications are also not well established for the south-central United States. The objective of this study was to assess the short-term and long-term effects of microsurfacing treatments and to evaluate whether microsurfacing is a major contributor to moisture damage. Field performance of 27 sections where microsurfacing treatments were applied between 2003 and 2008 was monitored for at least eight years. Results indicated that microsurfacing is most effective in addressing rutting damage as compared with the other performance indicators. Microsurfacing extended the service life of the pavements by 4.9–8.8 years. The effectiveness of microsurfacing was found to be optimum when applied to pavements with pre-treatment conditions ranging from 80 to 85. Results of this study also showed that microsurfacing-treated sections exhibited higher percentage of moisture damage as compared with the untreated sections in all the districts. Therefore, an in-depth assessment of the effects of microsurfacing on moisture damage in asphalt pavements is recommended.

Validation of Adhesive and Temperature Property Characteristics of Microsurfacing by Performance-Based Mixture Design Approach

“…To assess the spalling resistance of the microsurfacing mixture, the DWPA test was developed to simulate the effects of vehicle loading and temperature. The main accelerated loading systems used to simulate pavement performance were the Hamburg rutting tester, the accelerated loading facility (ALF), RIOH track, and the one-third scale model mobile load simulator (MMLS3) [ 30 ]. The above-mentioned accelerated loading devices have loaded tires that were dragged and passively rotated, which were unable to simulate the interaction between the main drive wheel and the road surface; therefore, this type of pavement accelerated loading equipment can only evaluate the load-bearing capacity of the pavement structure, but not the surface functions of the pavement, such as durability of the road surface paving materials, abrasion (de-granulation), reflection cracking, anti-rutting performance, pavement noise, friction coefficient, water damage resistance, etc.…”

Development of a Decision-Making Tool to Select Optimum Preventive Maintenance Treatments in a Hot and Humid Climate

“…Research studies were conducted in Louisiana to evaluate the field performance of chip seal and microsurfacing ( 4 , 28 ). These studies indicated that chip seal significantly improves the surface cracking and roughness of the pavement, while microsurfacing improves all pavement conditions, namely, surface cracking, roughness, and rutting.…”

“…It was reported that the ΔPSL caused by the chip seal and microsurfacing primarily depends on the pre-treatment PCI (PCI), see Table 2. Both studies also conducted cost-benefit analyses using the CE approach and concluded that the TNB for both treatments is significantly correlated to the PCI, see Table 2 ( 4 , 28 ).…”

“…Moisture damage under chip seal and microsurfacing was evaluated in Louisiana by extracting cores from asphalt pavement sections treated with chip seal and microsurfacing as well as from untreated pavement sections ( 4 , 28 ). All of the cores were inspected for stripping and the percentage of stripped cores was reported for every: (a) treatment category (untreated, chip seal and microsurfacing); and (b) the corresponding groundwater level below the pavement surface (near surface, less than 30 feet, 3060 feet, and greater than 60 feet).…”

Profile Features of Emulsified Asphalt Mixture Containing Steel Slag Based on Laser Scanning

“…It can effectively reduce degradation rate of service performance, improve skid resistance and reduce maintenance costs. Micro-surfacing (MS), made of emulsified asphalt and fine aggregate, is the most commonly used preventive maintenance technology in highways and airport runways, owing to its excellent skid resistance, short time of resuming traffic and function of repairing rutting [11][12][13]. Liu et al [14] prepared MS samples with waterborne epoxy resin (WER) modified asphalt and the results indicated that MS prepared by WER can obviously improve rutting resistance.…”