Performance of surface seal techniques

摘要

The construction and maintenance of chipseals varies between countries and regions depending on climatic conditions and accepted construction techniques. A paper by New Zealand researchers documents research on the ability of different surface techniques to keep surfaces water tight. It investigates the behaviour of different base course materials under these varying moisture conditions and specifically the aggregates susceptibility to moisture. The experiment was conducted at the Canterbury Accelerated Pavement Testing Indoor Facility (CAPTIF). This was the first experiment at CAPTIF involving the simulation of water being introduced on the pavement surface. Time domain reflectometers (TDR) were installed to measure the relative moisture change in unbound layers. The results confirmed earlier studies that water can infiltrate through the chipseal surfacing at surprisingly high rates. The results also indicate that high moisture levels can cause failures much earlier (within 5000 standard axle loads) on low volume roads.