Field And Laboratory Evaluation of Asphalt Crack Sealant Performance

Abstract

Crack sealing on hot-mix asphalt (HMA) pavement roads is a pavement maintenance technique used to limit the intrusion of water into the pavement structure, and thereby, delay additional distresses. There are two commonly used methods of crack sealing in Minnesota: (i) clean-and-seal, and (ii) rout-and-seal. Since roads in Minnesota are extremely susceptible to cracking in the transverse direction, the goal of this study was to provide insight to the most effective method of crack sealing on asphalt pavements. Based on the field performance results, this study compared the abovementioned two methods for difference scenarios and developed a decision tree to identify the most effective crack sealing method for a given condition of pavement and traffic. As an additional component to the primary study, a new testing procedure for evaluating the adhesiveness between the sealant material and the HMA matrix was developed. This procedure tests sealant materials in tension to produce a stress/strain curve of the sealant as it fails.