The European Concrete Pavement Association (EUPAVE) released its latest 16-page publication entitled “Roller compacted concrete (RCC): making concrete pavements available to the whole pavement building industry” during the 4th workshop on Best Practices in Concrete Paving held June 18, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium.
The advantages of conventional vibrated concrete pavements are well known: strength, antiskidding properties, luminosity, fire resistance, durability, reduction of fuel consumption, minimal maintenance, more economical than other options in the long term. However, in most cases they must be constructed with machinery only suitable for concrete paving.
RCC is a paving material which has similar strength properties and consists of the same basic ingredients as conventional, internally vibrated concrete for pavements—well-graded aggregates, cementitious materials, and water—but has different mixture proportions. RCC is a hybrid technique allowing the use of asphalt equipment to achieve a pavement featuring properties (strength, durability) similar to those of vibrated concrete pavements. The main differences are:
- the lower cement content allowing to obtain a consistency of the fresh material stiff enough to remain stable under vibratory rollers, yet wet enough to permit adequate mixing and distribution of paste without segregation;
- RCC has a higher percentage of fine aggregates, which allows for tight packing and consolidation by rollers and/or asphalt pavers provided with high density screeds;
- RCC is typically placed with an asphalt-type paver equipped with a standard or high-density screed, followed by a combination of passes with rollers for compaction. Final compaction is generally achieved within one hour of mixing.
- unlike conventional concrete pavements, RCC pavements are constructed without forms, dowels, or reinforcing steel;
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sawcutting has not always been used in RCC construction, but it is gaining popularity as
a measure to maintain small crack widths and good load transfer. It is well accepted that tight cracks are more conducive to high load transfer, which is an important feature of pavement design. Moreover, joint sawing improves the aesthetics of the pavement, and sawn joints are less prone to distresses than naturally occurring cracks.
Although primarily intended for low speed applications such as industrial yards or secondary and residential roads, progresses in machinery and construction methods along near 50 years of experience have expanded the use of RCC pavements for carriageways with higher traffic volumes. Currently, for most applications where vibrated concrete pavements are used, RCC is also a feasible option providing excellent results.
For the full 16-page publication titled “Roller compacted concrete (RCC): making concrete pavements available to the whole pavement building industry”, please click on the image above, or go to: https://www.eupave.eu/wp-content/uploads/EUPAVE-Publication-on-Roller-Compacted-Concrete-April-2019.pdf
For the adjacent ISCP article on EUPAVE’s 4th Workshop on RCC, titled “EUPAVE’s 4th Workshop on Best Practices Featured Impressive Testimonials on RCC”, please go to: https://www.concretepavements.org/2019/07/18/eupaves-4th-workshop-on-best-practices-featured-impressive-testimonials-on-rcc/
For the RCC Pavement Council, please go to: http://rccpavementcouncil.org