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
Materials and Procedures for Repair of Joint Seals in Portland Cement Concrete Pavements
This Manual of Practice is an updated version of the 1993 SHRP Joint Seal Repair Manual. Many different sealant materials and resealing methods were investigated between 1991 and 1998 through test sites installed at five locations in the United States. The findings of these combined studies have been merged with standard highway agency procedures to provide the most useful and up-to-date information on the practice of concrete joint resealing
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City/Municipal, Highway
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues
Joint Movement Estimator for Designing Transverse Joint Seal Installations
Seal/No Seal (SNS) Tech Brief: Joint Movement Estimator for Designing Transverse Joint Seal Installations. Sealing of concrete pavements began approximately a century ago when full-depth repair (FDR) gaps were left between slabs to allow for expansion and to control cracking. The gaps were commonly filled with asphalt, tar, pitch, or boards.
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City/Municipal, Highway
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues
Filling Narrow Joints in Concrete Pavements
Seal/No Seal (SNS) Tech Brief: This tech brief discusses joint sawing, cleaning and material selection and installation traditionally used for sealing joints. Filling of narrow joints in concrete pavements has become more common. With this increased interest, it is important to understand the procedures and materials necessary to provide quality installations and acceptable performance.
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Airport/Airfield, City/Municipal, Highway, Industrial, Race Track
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues, Tire/Pavement Noise
Alleviating the Effects of Pavement Growth on Structures
Irreversible damage to structures caused by pavement stresses may be reduced if bridge engineers, inspectors, and maintenance workers identify the signs of PG early, and initiate corrective action through the installation of a Pressure Relief Joint (PRJ) in a timely manner.
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Bridge, City/Municipal, Highway
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues
Tech Brief - July 2024 - Proper Joint Preparation
To seal or not to seal has been a question for more than a quarter century. Joint sealing has been a process in constructing concrete pavements for over a hundred years, yet the challenge of quality installation continues. The purpose of joint sealing is to reduce the amount of water entering a pavement structure and to prevent the filling of joints with incompressible materials.
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Airport/Airfield, Bridge, City/Municipal, Highway, Industrial
Concrete Pavement Preservation and Restoration, Joint and Crack Resealing
The Long Term Performance of Unsealed Jointed Concrete Pavements
The results of this study show that concrete pavement restoration (CPR) with diamond grinding is an effective means of extending service life of concrete pavements. Based on surface texture life, faulting performance, and survival trends, a diamond-ground surface may be expected to provide a minimum of 8 to 10 years of service with a high degree of reliability. Dowel bar retrofitting (DBR) can be a highly effective method of extending service life of nondoweled PCC pavements with high traffic, especially for pavements in wet climates.
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City/Municipal, Highway
Joint and Crack Resealing
Structural/Material Issues