1.

Concrete Pavement characteristics and Behavior

a.) Deterioration - of concrete pavement is due to stress brought about by 1 rad,
moisture and temperature.

b.) Distress of concrete - is generally grouped into the following categories:

- Distortion
- Cracking
- Disintegration

c.) Faulting - is the result of pumping tremendous force or load that developed under the
pavement. For faulting to occur, there must be free water on the top of the base
course and pavement deflection across the joint due to heavy axle loads.
Causes of Faulting:
- Loss of slab support
- Erosion of sub base

d.) Cracking - can take many forms in concrete pavement that could be the result from;
applied load temperature or moisture changes the most common type of cracks:
- Corner cracks associated with excessive corner deflection.
-Transverse cracks associated with mixture or temperature stress, or poor
construction methods.

e.)Disintegration - appears in the form of durability cracking, scaling or spalling, as the

result of mix design or construction related problems like:
- Durability cracking. Result from freeze thaw action.
- Scaling. A network of shallow fine hairline cracks which extend through the upper
surface of the concrete. This is the result from deicing salts, improper
construction, freeze-thaw cycle, or steel reinforcement too closed to the surface
- Spalling is the breaking or chipping of the joint edges. It is the result from
excessive stresses at joint, weak concrete, poorly designed or constructed joints.

2. To avoid cracking, by limiting the stresses induced in the concrete by restricting the
amount of movement and/or the level of restraint. The second is to assume that cracking
will occur and to control crack widths by providing sufficient, correctly detailed
reinforcement.

3. Transverse Expansion Joints

Expansion Joints provide space allowance for the lengthening of slab due to expansion.
Because of the many buckling upward of concrete pavement, Engineers have come up
with a conclusion that these blow-ups serves as conclusive evidence that expansion joint
is necessary.

4. Longitudinal Joints
Longitudinal joints are provided between adjacent traffic lanes. It is considered as hinges
to provide edge support, but allows rotation between the slabs. By this joint, flexural
stresses that might cause irregular cracks along the length of the road are relieved or
neutralized. Longitudinal joints cannot be considered as a major problem under the
following assumptions:
- That there is no big load transfer across it.
- That the expansion and contraction movement developed across the pavement
width is very small.
- When lanes are constructed at different time using side forms, the joints are
provided with key way in the first slab to accept load transfer.
- For longitudinal joint, deformed tie bars are used because the purpose is to hold
the slabs tightly together, rather to allow the joints to open and close.
- The diameter and spacing of tie bars are based on the forced needed to pull the
narrow pavement slab over the sub-grade to the joint.
 - The length of tie bar is determined from the embedment inside the concrete
necessary to develop the strength of the bar.

5. Construction Joints
If concrete pouring will be interrupted for quite some time that cold joint will be
inevitable, the practice is to provide a transverse construction joints. Deformed tie bars
are used to hold the joint tightly closed together. However, if the construction joint
replaces a contraction joint, the use of dowels is the alternative.

Construction joints and cracks should be cleaned and sealed to prevent infiltration of
water to the sub-grade and to keep dirt out of the joints. Materials for such purpose
includes harder paving and air blown asphalt sometimes mixed with mineral filler, rubber
asphalt, and various rubber compounds. They are poured hot and stiff, then cooled, and
others are placed cold. There are some pre-formed sealant made of strips of extruded
neoprene compressed for insertion into the groove joints, the sealant will expand and fill
the space completely.

6. DPWH Specifications on Concrete Pavement

Concrete pavement is categorized under item 311 of DPWH standard specifications,
which provides that:

“ This item shall consist of Portland cement Concrete pavement with or without
reinforcement, constructed on the prepared base in accordance with the plans
and specifications. “

a.) Material Requirements

* Portland Cement
- shall conform to the applicable requirements of Item 0-700, hydraulic cement. Only type
1 or the normal or common Portland cement should be used. Different brands or the
same brands from different mills shall not be mixed nor shall they be used alternately
unless approved by the supervising engineer.

* Fine Aggregate
- Fine aggregate shall consist of natural sand, stone screening or other inert materials with
similar characteristics or combination thereof, having hard, strong and durable particles.
It shall be free from injurious amounts of organic impurities.

- Fine aggregates from different sources of supply should not be mixed or stored in the
same pile nor used alternately.

- Fine aggregates should not contain more than 3 mass percent of materials passing the
0.075mm (No. 200 sieve by washing nor more than one mass percent each of clay lumps
o shale.

- The use of beach sand will not be allowed without the approval of the supervising
engineer.

- If the fine aggregate is subjected to 5 cycles of the sodium sulfate soundness test, the
weighed loss should not exceed 10 mass percent.

- If fine aggregate is subjected to test for organic impurities and a color darker than the
standard is produced, it should be rejected.

* Coarse Aggregate
- Coarse aggregate shall consist of crushed stone, gravel, blast furnace slag, or other
approved inert materials of similar character or combination thereof, having hard, strong
durable pieces, free from any adherent coatings
- Coarse aggregate should contain not more than one mass percent of material passing
the 0.075mm (No. 200) sieve nor more than 0.25 mass percent of clay lumps, not more
than 3.5 mass percent of soft fragments.

- If the coarse aggregate was subjected to 5 cycles of the sodium sulfate soundness test,
the lost weight should not exceed 12 mass percent. It should have a mass percent of wear
not exceeding 40 when tested by AASHTO T-96.

- If slag is used, its density should not be less than 1120 kilogram per cubic meter.

* Water
Water to be used in concrete mixing or curing or other designated applications should
be clean and free from oil, salt, acid, alkali, grass or other substances injurious to the
finished product. Drinking water if used needs to be tested.

*Reinforcing Steel
The specifications state that: dowels and tie bars to be used in concrete pavement shall
conform to the requirements of AASHTO M-31 or M-42 except that rail steel shall not be
used for tie bars to be bended and re-straightened during construction.
Specifications further provide that:
- Tie bars shall be deformed bars.
- Dowels shall be plain round bars delivered to the site with one half of each
dowel length painted with one coat of approved lead or tar paint.
- The sleeves of dowels shall be metal of approved design to cover 50mm plus or
minus 5mm of the dowels, with a closed end, with a suitable stop to hold the
end of the sleeve at least 25mm from the end of the dowel.
- Sleeve shall be of such design that they do not collapse during construction.

* Joint Fillers
Joint fillers should be mixed asphalt and mineral or rubber filler. The pre-formed joint
fillers are punched to admit the dowels. Filler for each joint should be furnished in a
single place for the full depth and width of the joint.

b.) Storage of Cement and Aggregates

The storage house for cement should be waterproof with raised floor from the ground
to protect the cement from rain or dampness.

- The provisions for storage should be ample enough and the shipment of cement as
received is separately stored in such a manner as to allow the earliest deliveries to be
used first and to provide easy access for identification and inspection of each shipment.

-Storage house must have the capacity to accommodate sufficient quantity of cement to
allow sampling at least 12 days before the cement is used.

- To secure uniformity of concrete mixture, the coarse aggregate are separated into two
or more sizes. Different sizes of aggregates are stored in separate bins or in separate
stock piles sufficiently remote from each other to prevent the materials at the edge on
the piles from becoming intermixed.

c.) Proportioning, Consistency and Strength of Concrete

Prepare a design mixture based on the absolute volume method as specified in the
American Concrete Institution (ACI) standard “Recommended Practice for selecting
Proportion for normal and heavyweight concrete”.

- The intent of this specification is to require approximately 9.0 bags of cement per cubic
meter of concrete based on a 40 kg weight per bag of cement. However, leaner or richer
mixture may be used in order to meet the minimum strength requirements.
- The engineer will determine from the laboratory tests. The materials to be used, the
cement content and the proportions of aggregate and water that will produce a
workable concrete having a slump of between 40 and 70 mm (11/2” to 3”) if not
vibrated, or between 10 to 40 mm if vibrated and flexural strength of not less than 3.8
Mpa (550 psi) when tested by the third-point method or 4.5 Mpa (650 psi) when tested
by the mid-point method or a compressive strength of 24.1 Mpa (3,500 psi) when tested
at fourteen days.

- The designer should consider the use of lean concrete (econo-concrete) mixture using
local materials or specifically modified conventional concrete mixture in base course
and in the lower course of composite, monolithic concrete pavements using a minimum
of 75 mm of conventional concrete as the surface course.

d.) Quality Control of Concrete

For quality control of concrete in general, the DPWH specifications provides that:

“The contractor shall be responsible for the quality control of all materials during the
handling, blending, mixing and placement operations. The contractor shall furnish the
engineer a Quality Control Plan detailing the production control procedures and the
type and frequency of sampling and testing to insure that the concrete produced
complies with the specifications. T h e supervising Engineer shall be provided free access
to recent plant production records, and if requested informational copies of design,
materials certifications and sampling and resting reports. “

e.) Required Qualification of Workmen

*Concrete Butcher – The person performing the batching of mixing operation, capable
of accurately conducting aggregate surface moisture determinations and establishing
correct scale weight for concrete materials.

*Concrete Technician – The person responsible for concrete production control and
sampling and testing for quality control proficient in concrete technology having a sound
knowledge of the specifications as they relate to concrete production. He shall be:
-Capable of conducting test on concrete and concrete materials in accordance
with the specifications.
-Capable of adjusting concrete mix designs for improving workability and
specification compliance and preparing trial mix design.
-He shall be qualified to act as the concrete batcher in the absence of the
batcher.

f.) Preparation of Grade

After the base or sub-grade have been placed and compacted to the required density,
the areas that will support the paving machine and the grade on which the pavement is
to be constructed should be trimmed to the proper elevation by means of a properly
designed machine extending the work at least 60 cm beyond each edge of the proposed
concrete pavement. If loss of density results from the rimming operations, it should be
restored by additional compaction before concrete is placed. If any traffic is allowed to
use the prepared sub-grade or the surface, it should be checked and corrected
immediately ahead of the placing of concrete. The sub-grade or base should be
uniformly moistened when the concrete is placed.

g.) Setting of Forms

* Base Support – The foundation under the forms should be hard and true to grade, so
that the form when set will be firmly in contact with its whole length at the specified
grade. Any roadbed, which is below the established grade, should be filled with
approved granular materials to grade in lifts of three centimeters or less, and thoroughly
re-rolled or tamped. Imperfections or variations above the grade should be corrected by
tamping or by cutting as necessary.
* Grading and Alignment – form shall be set sufficiently advance from the point where
the concrete is being placed. After setting to correct grade, the base is thoroughly
tamped, mechanically or by hand, at both edge of the form base inside and outside. The
forms should not deviate from the true line by more than one centimeter at any point.
* Grading and Alignment – the alignment and grade elevation of the forms should be
checked and corrections be made immediately before the placing of concrete. Prior to
the placing of concrete, the crown and elevation are verified by holding an approved
template in a vertical position moving backward and forward on the forms.
h.) Handling, Measuring and Batching of Materials
The batching plant and equivalent layout must provide a smooth and flow of continuous
supply and transport of materials to the work. Stockpiles are built up in layers of not
more than one meter in thickness with each layer completely in place before beginning
the next that should not be allowed to “cone” down over the next lower layer.

All washed aggregates and aggregate produced or handled by hydraulic methods are
stockpiled or binned for draining at least twelve hours before being batched.

The mixer should be charged without loss of cement and batched material should be
charged without loss of cement and should be weighed for each material required
within a tolerance of 1% for cement and 2% for aggregates. Water may be measured by
volume or by weight and the accuracy of measuring water shall be within a range of x >
1% error.

i.) Mixing Concrete

The concrete may be mixed at the site, in a central plant or by truck mixers of approved
type and capacity. Mixing time will be measured from the time when all materials
except water are already inside the drum.
- Ready mix concrete shall be mixed and delivered in accordance with ASSHTO M-157
requirements, except that the minimum required revolutions at the mixing speed for
transit mixed concrete may be reduced to not less than that recommended by the
mixers manufacturer. The number of revolutions recommended by the mixer
manufacturer should be indicated on a serial plate attached to the mixer.

- When mixing is done at the site or in a central mixing plant, the mixing time should
not be less than 50 seconds nor more than 90 seconds, unless mixing performance tests
provide adequate mixing of the concrete in a shorter time period. Mixing time ends
when the discharge chute of the mixer opens. The contents of the individual mixer drum
shall be removed completely before a succeeding batch is loaded therein.

- The volume of concrete mix per batch should not exceed the mixers nominal capacity
in cubic meter, as indicated on the manufacturers standard rating plate attached on the
mixer except that an overload up to 10 % above the mixers normal capacity may be
permitted provided that concrete test data for strength, segregation and uniform
consistency are satisfied and no spoilage of concrete should take place.

- The batches shall be charged into the drum with a portion of the mixing water enter in
advance of the cement and aggregates. The flow of water should be uniform that all
water shall be inside the drum at the end of the first 15 seconds of the mixing period.

- The throat of the drum shall be kept free of concrete accumulation that may restrict
the free flow of materials into the drum.

- Mixed concrete from the central mixing plant shall be transported in truck mixers,
truck agitators, or non-agitating trucks. The time elapsed from the time water is added
to the mix until the concrete is deposited in place at the site shall not exceed 45 minutes
when the concrete is hauled in non-agitating trucks, nor 90 minutes when hauled in
 truck mixers or truck agitators, except that in hot weather or under conditions
contributing to quick hardening of concrete by the supervising Engineer.

- Re-tempering concrete by adding water or by any other means shall not be permitted,
except that when concrete is delivered in truck mixers, additional water may be added
to the batch materials and additional mixing is perform increasing the slump to meet
the requirements if permitted by the Engineer, provided that all these operations are
performed within 45 minutes after the initial mixing operations and the water cement
ration is not exceeded.

j.) Placing or Depositing of Concrete

Concrete is deposited in such a manner requiring minimal re-handling. Unless truck
mixers or non-agitating hauling equipment are equipped with a means to discharge
concrete without segregation of the materials, the concrete should be unloaded inside
the form in a manner to prevent segregation of the particles.

- Placing of concrete between transverse joints without the use of intermediate

bulkheads. Necessary hand spreading shall be done with shovels, not rakes. Workers are
not allowed to walk on.

- Where concrete is to be placed adjoining a previously constructed lane, and

mechanical equipment will be operated upon the existing lane, that previously
constructed lane must have attained the strength for 14 day concrete. If finishing
equipment is carried on the existing lane paving in adjoining lanes may be permitted
only after 3 days.

- Vibrators should not be allowed to come in contact with a joint assembly, grade or side
form. In no case it be operated longer than 15 seconds in any one location.

- Concrete should be deposited as near as possible to the expansion and contraction

joints without disturbing them, but should not be dumped from the discharge bucket of
hopper into a joint assembly unless the hopper is well centered on the joint assembly.

7. Opening to Traffic
The Engineer will decide when the pavement may be opened to traffic. The road will not
be opened to traffic until test specimens molded and cured in accordance with
AASHTOT 23 have attained the minimum strength requirements in Subsection 311.2.12.
If such tests are not conducted prior to the specified age, the pavement shall not be
operated to traffic until 14 days after the concrete was placed. Before opening to traffic,
the pavement shall be cleaned and joint sealing completed.

8. Removal of Forms
Forms for concrete pavement should remain in place undisturbed within 24 hours after
pouring. The removal could be done as follows: 1. Crowbars are used in removing forms,
pulling out nails and pins but care should be exercised not to break the pavement edges.

In case a portion of the concrete slab is spelled off, it should be repaired immediately
with fresh mortar mixture of 1:2. 3. Major honeycombed area will be considered as
defective work, to be removed and replaced.

*Protection of Pavement
Concrete pavement and its appurtenances should be protected against public traffic,
and traffic caused by the workers. Protection of the pavement includes the posting of
watchmen to direct traffic and the posting and maintenance of warning signs, lights,
pavement bridges or crossovers, etc. Any damage to the pavement prior to the final
acceptance of the work shall be repaired or replaced depending upon the extent of the
damaged.
ASSIGNMENT
IN
HIGHWAY
ENGINEERING

Submitted by:
Dimple Shane Callangan
Jonalyn Cue
Crizza Mae Cureg
Lovi Marc Cusipag
Christian Estraila

Submitted to:
Engr. Shelvin M. Atilano
Civil Engineer
Master Plumber
Materials Engineer I
Master of Engineering, Civil Eng’g
Ph.D in Technology Management (on going)