Page 1 of 6
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 891
Performance Evaluation Of Whitetopping Overlay On Existing Flexible Pavement
N. PONNUPERUMAL
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
PRIST (Deemed to be University), THANJAVUR.
ABSTRACT
White topping is a technology to construct 50-100mm thick cement concrete overlay on
distressed asphalt pavement as a rehabilitation technique. There have been several White
topping projects completed in India, the first in Pune, subsequently in New Delhi, Ghaziabad,
Mumbai, and Thane. All projects have shown good to excellent performance so far,
indicating that this rehabilitation strategy can stand up to the Indian climate and traffic
conditions. The suitability of white topping rehabilitation for a particular site is dependent on
several factors, including existing asphalt thickness, volume of truck traffic, base and sub- grade support, and pavement conditions. This report outlines the state-of practice in India for
construction of white topping considering mix traffic, extreme climatic conditions, use of
indigenous materials.
INTRODUCTION
Pavement performance is a function of its
relative ability to serve traffic over a
period of time (Highway Research Board,
1962). Originally, a pavement’s relative
ability to serve traffic was determined
quite subjectively by visual inspection and
experience. However, experience is
difficult to transfer from one person to
another, and individual decisions made
from similar data are often inconsistent. In
the late 1950s, systems of objective
measurement (such as roughness meters,
deflection and skid test equipment) began
to appear which could quantify a
pavement’s condition and performance.
These systems, along with visual distress
surveys, were used to aid in making
maintenance and rehabilitation decisions,
which, over the years have been refined
and upgraded to provide rapid, objective
means to establish maintenance priorities,
determine maintenance and rehabilitation
strategies and predict pavement
performance (Hicks and Mahoney, 1981).
Performance is a broad, general term
describing how pavement condition
changes or how pavement structures serve
Page 2 of 6
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 892
their intended functions with accumulating
use (George et al., 1989). AASHTO
(2003) defines the pavement performance
as the ability of pavement to satisfactorily
serve traffic over time. It further defines
the serviceability of a pavement as the
ability to serve the traffic for which it was
designed. Integration of both the
definitions will yield a new understanding
of the performance, which can be
interpreted as the integration of the
serviceability over time (Yoder and
Witczac, 1975). The main task for a
pavement engineer is not only to design
and construct a pavement but also to
monitor the performance of the pavement
in service so as to schedule the
maintenance and rehabilitation work.
In this chapter, the performance of
whitetopping projects under this study
have been assessed, by means of
compressive strength tests on field cores,
FWD test, BBD test, roughness index test
and visual distress survey on in-service
whitetopping. LTE has also been
calculated using FWD test on conventional
whitetopping and BBD test (using two
Benkelman beams simultaneously) on
UTW to assess their performance. Life
Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) of
conventional whitetopping and UTW has
also been carried out in this chapter and
these LCCA values have been compared
with LCCA values of rigid pavement and
flexible pavement to assess their cost
effectiveness.
California, since the 1960s, has used
conventional whitetopping and has
reported considerable success with the
treatment (Hutchinson, 1982). Where the
performance whitetopping has not been
satisfactory, the problem can often be
traced to a design flaw or inadequacy.
From the literature review, it is found that,
Wyoming Department of Transportation
reported that non doweled whitetopping
developed significant faulting after a few
years of Interstate highway traffic
(McGhee, 1994).
Kentucky (in 1991), constructed an
experimental UTW project at a landfill in
Louisville, Kentucky. The landfill’s main
access road offered an excellent
opportunity to evaluate the performance of
UTW. This access road is the access for all
the loaded and unloaded trucks to the
weigh scales and the landfill. In addition,
the access road is straight and flat which
eliminated possible ill effects from turning
and acceleration/deceleration movements.
Page 3 of 6
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 07 Issue 05
May 2019
Available online:https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 893
The existing HMA pavement displayed
some rutting in the inbound travel lane and
therefore, the entire surface of both lanes
was milled to provide a uniform cross
section. The first test section was 2 in. (50
mm) thick with polypropylene fibers and
6.0 ft x 6.0 ft (1.83 m x 1.83 m) relief
joint layout. The second section was 3.5
in. (87 mm) thick with polypropylene
fibers and 6.0 ft x 6.0 ft (1.83 m x 1.83 m)
relief joint layout. The entire project was
completed in one weekend in order to
facilitate the continued operation of the
landfill. The experimental evaluation of
the project was completed after the first
year with nearly one million 18 kip (80
kN) equivalent single axle loads passing
over the experimental sections. Some
corner cracks were present in the panels,
and a couple of transverse cracks were
observed, but no concrete was removed
nor were any repairs carried out before the
end of the evaluation.
VISUAL DISTRESS SURVEY
Visual Distress Survey in Conventional
Whitetopping
Visual distress surveys have been
conducted after two years of the
construction of the project. Both lanes of
every section of the project have been
completely surveyed. Surveys entailed a
person walking on each shoulder recording
the type and location of every observed
distress. The types of distresses considered
in the survey included transverse cracks,
longitudinal cracks, corner cracks,
diagonal cracks, joint spalls, and fractured
panels. Surveys typically have been
conducted on the second Saturday in
February, May, August, and November.
All surveys have been started at about 9:00
a.m. The primary objective of visual
distress surveys was to monitor distresses
in relation to the serviceability and
bonding condition over time. Visual
distress survey has been conducted for
transverse cracks, longitudinal cracks,
corner cracks, diagonal cracked, joint spall
and fractured panels. There have been no
cracks or joint problems visible during this
survey in the first year. After the two
year’s survey, only one new crack was
observed and it has been located in Pimpri
chowk. This new crack is approximately
200 mm (8 inches) in length and was
located in the outer wheel path. One corner
crack has been found in the driving lane of
pavement near Kasarwadi in the inner
wheel path. All corner cracks were
approximately 75mm (3 inches) long.
Visual distress survey conducted after two
years of its service to study the
