Principal Investigator(s):
Manik Barman, Associate Professor, UMD-Civil Engineering
Project summary:
Crack sealing is an important preventive treatment in the pavement preservation program. To achieve a cost-effective crack seal, it is important to select a proper crack-sealing method. While Minnesota usually seals cracks in asphalt pavements, there is no clear consensus on the most appropriate crack-sealing method for a specific job. This study focused on developing a guideline so that a cost-effective crack-sealing method could be chosen based on pavement type, functional condition, pavement age, and traffic volume, etc. This study includes a literature review, online survey, field performance data collection and analysis, and development of a guideline. The effectiveness of the crack seals was determined using a benefit-cost analysis. Two decision trees were developed for choosing the most appropriate crack-sealing method. The first--which can be used in MnDOT's pavement management system--needs information such as crack severity, pavement type (new vs. overlay), pavement analysis period and design life, traffic level, and crack seal occurrence number. The second decision tree is a simplified version of the first and can be used by the preventive maintenance crews and requires less information: crack severity, traffic level, and crack sealing occurrence number.