Evaluation of transverse cracks in cracked seated and overlaid concrete pavements

The performance of Crack, Seat, and Overlay (CS&O) pavement rehabilitation technique is evaluated with respect to observed transverse cracking. Pavement sections rehabilitated using the CS&O technique were extracted from the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database and divided into two categories based on weather region, namely Wet-with-Freeze (WF) and Wet-with-No-Freeze (WNF). California sections from the LTPP database were also extracted but evaluated separately. It was observed that the overlay thickness and the type of base material both play important roles in minimizing transverse cracks. Sections with bound bases outperformed those with unbound bases with the same overlay thickness. Sections built in California with thicker leveling course exhibited slightly less transverse cracks than those built following the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) normal practice. Three prediction models were developed for pavement sections in the WF and WNF regions and in California. The models predict that LTPP-California sections are expected to experience almost twice as much transverse cracks as the WF and WNF sections with similar cumulative traffic levels, layer thicknesses, and base types. © Chinese Society of Pavement Engineering.