Joint Sealant Failure
If you have joint sealant failure, you need to perform:
Joint/Crack Resealing
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Uncontrolled water ingress, especially water from a pavement’s surface, contributes to multiple types of pavement distress. It can lead to spalling, base or subgrade softening, dowel bar corrosion, pavement joint blow-ups and/or materials-related distress.
For many concrete pavements, proactively sealing or filling transverse and longitudinal joints and cracks to reduce water penetration improves long-term pavement performance. In addition to limiting the entry of water, joint sealing can reduce the entry of incompressibles into the joint reservoir that exert pressure on the pavement. Performed alone, joint resealing
is a maintenance activity. However, it is also an important part of the concrete pavement preservation (CPP) toolbox.
There are two basic approaches to joint treatment (other than leaving the joint open): joint filling and joint sealing. Joint sealing involves a foam backer rod and more rigorous preparation of a sealant reservoir than filling, which often involves simply filling up a diamond saw cut joint with sealant material after minimal preparation. Joint filling may be appropriate when the reservoir is narrow and difficult to prepare, but full adhesion of the filler may be difficult to achieve, resulting in less protection from moisture penetration. In CPP projects where joints have previously been sealed, resealing them is important.
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See also our industry partner website Seal/No Seal to learn more about the benefits of sealing joints.
Resources
ACPA Joint Sealing Tech Bulletin TB010 2018
Sealing or filling transverse and longitudinal joints in concrete pavements is an important consideration for long-term pavement performance. For most pavement applications proactively sealing or filling joints provides a measure of added protection against potential problems, such as spalling, base/subgrade softening, dowel bar corrosion, pavement joint blow-ups, and even some materials-related distresses. However, to gain these benefits the installation and maintenance of the sealants/fillers must be performed with care.
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Technical
Airport/Airfield, Bridge, City/Municipal, Highway, Industrial
Concrete Pavement Preservation and Restoration, Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues, Sustainability/Environmental, Tire/Pavement Noise
Minneapolis's Concrete Pavement Preservation Strategy
A comprehensive Concrete Pavement Preservation (CPP) strategy can extend the life of aging concrete streets. The City of Minneapolis, facing significant infrastructure challenges from harsh freeze-thaw cycles,
implemented a comprehensive Concrete Pavement Preservation (CPP) strategy to extend the life of its aging concrete streets. By integrating advanced pavement rehabilitation techniques with innovative contracting and a focus on sustainability, Minneapolis has successfully extended the lifespan of its roadways by an estimated 25 years. The program serves as a benchmark for other municipalities, demonstrating a cost-effective, environmentally responsible and long-term solution to urban pavement management.
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City/Municipal
Concrete Pavement Preservation and Restoration
Structural/Material Issues, Sustainability/Environmental
Research of Test Methods to Evaluate Joint Preparation for Sealing
Seal/No Seal (SNS) Report: Wiess, Janney, Elsner Associates, Inc. (WJE) has completed research to develop practical field tests procedures that can measure and indicate when a sawcut joint is clean and dry enough to accept sealant. The intent of this test program was to develop reliable and practical test methods for assessing the cleanliness and moisture conditions in sawcut concrete joints to determine their preparedness for accepting sealants.
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Technical Info
Airport/Airfield, City/Municipal, Highway, Industrial, Race Track
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues
Construction of Long Life Sealant Performance
The longevity of any sealant installation is a function of the joint sealing design, the materials used, the workmanship of the installation, and the prevailing environmental and traffic conditions. One experiment included joint resealing. Sealant performance can be significantly improved through proper joint preparation for very little cost.
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Technical Info
Airport/Airfield, City/Municipal, Highway, Industrial
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues
SR59 SB Roadway Joint Sealant Experiment
This preliminary report, prepared by the Seal No Seal Committee (SNS), outlines an approach to study transverse joint sealant effectiveness on SR59 near Joliet, Illinois. The experiment consists of constructing 8 sealed sections and two unsealed sections.
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Highway
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues
Minimize Wheel Slap: Keep Your Joints Narrow
Wheel-slap is not as critical an issue today in some states as it was five years ago, because many agencies have changed their details for joint sealing to use a narrow 1/8-inch wide reservoir (i.e. single sawcut), filled with sealant. The agencies taking this approach are getting all of the associated benefits from their decision, including the opportunity for multiple resealing projects before joint reservoirs become wide enough to start causing wheel slap.
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Technical Info
City/Municipal, Highway
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues