Current Research
Establishing Best Practices for Construction and Design of Cement Treated Materials
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)is in the process of updating the laboratory specifications, and improving the field guidelines for the design and construction of the cement treated pavement structures. The absence of practical and all-inclusive laboratory mixture design, coupled with construction and inspection guidelines that need improving have resulted in an ongoing challenge for TxDOTand users of the transportation facilities.
In recent years, several districts incorporated reclaimed concrete and reclaimed asphalt materials as an alternative aggregate source for the sustainable design of pavements with treated layers. Currently, there’s no practical provision for the characterization of the moisture susceptibility of reclaimed materials in the specifications. Additionally, due to the lack of field data and reliable laboratory tests in the past, the performance models in the TxME have never been verified and calibrated. Therefore, this research aims to develop a framework for proper laboratory characterization and field performance evaluation of the cement treated pavement structures. The costs associated with full depth repair and reconstruction due to premature failure of treated layers can be potentially mitigated by adherence to the improved guidelines and specifications. The updated framework is required to be all-encompassing for statewide applications and incorporation into the TxME design and analysis system.