Quantifying the environmental impacts of crack sealing and filling treatment in hot mix asphalt pavement

摘要

Crack sealing and filling treatments have always been an important consideration in order to prolong the life of pavementrnamong all the pavement maintenance programs. Crack sealing uses a router to cut the crack to provide a uniform rectangularrnreservoir for greater penetration of sealants in order to have good bonding whereas crack filling is simply inserting sealantrnwithout performing any modification to the crack walls. This research study is intended to compare the initial and long-termrnenvironmental burdens between crack sealing and filling treatment. The parameters related to the field implementation ofrncrack treatment methods (length sealed per day, amount of materials, configuration techniques, and equipment data) wererncollected from the Abilene district database system and the inventory loadings were gathered from the industry and thernliterature. Each life cycle phase of crack filling and sealing treatment was quantified in eight impact categories in terms ofrnenvironmental emissions. In general the results of this study indicated that the initial environmental emissions of crack sealingrntreatment are very high compared to filling technique. However, this environmental burdens can be compensated alongrnwith an approximately 25% reduction in emissions by implementing crack sealing treatment over a long period.