Advanced Techniques For Pavement Repair

The Air Force Civil Engineer Center (AFCEC) is responsible for identifying and providing solutions to the civil engineering community. The areas of interest cover a broad range of disciplines. AFCEC operations include, among others, pavements, construction materials, robotics, processes (i.e., firefighting optimization procedures), and asset management. Furthermore, AFCEC objectives range from an expeditionary environment to an environment typical of day-to-day base operations. In the expeditionary environment, AFCEC is interested in evaluating alternatives—based on the use of explosives or other technology—for expediting the repair of severely damaged concrete (or asphalt) pavements. Pavement damage induced by explosions or other explosive weapons can result in multiple craters on the runway. Craters are characterized by complete penetration of the pavement cap which often results in varying degrees of upheaval at the crater edges. To recover the surface for use as runway, the repair must be flush/in line with no 'bump' with the surrounding undamaged pavement. For this reason, the current repair process includes (and dedicates much time and logistics) to saw-cutting and removing the upheaval area so that the new material can be placed in a flush repair. This project seeks alternative means to rapidly remove the upheaval edge through energetic or explosive-related techniques, which are possibly modular and can be tailored in relation to the area and thickness of the damaged pavement to be demolished. Furthermore, the size of the debris after demolition of the damaged pavement and upheaval must be reduced to a few inches so that it can be re-used for backfilling the crater cavity.