When an 8-INCH concrete taxiway was FIRST BUILT at DONALDSON FIELD,
it is likely that NO ONE EXPECTED the pavement to still BE IN SERVICE 60 to 80 YEARS LATER!
1942 … In service nearly 80 years later!
Donaldson Field—part of the South Carolina Technology & Aviation Center—was built in 1942 as Greenville Army Air Base and renamed Donaldson Air Force Base in 1951. The base was decommissioned in 1962 and returned to the city and county. Over the years the technology and aviation center has become home to a number of companies, including Lockheed-Martin who currently maintain and refurbish the legendary “Air Force C-130 Hercules” cargo aircraft and “Navy P-3 Orion” patrol aircraft at Donaldson Center. They are about to expand to work on the F-16 fighter jet.
HERCULES WAY, SC
As part of this expansion, the road leading to the Lockheed-Martin’s facility, “Hercules Way”—8-in. concrete taxiway that was converted to a primary road after base decommissioning—was slated to be improved by Greenville County. The road handles employee traffic as well as heavy truck traffic delivering materials to the Lockheed-Martin facility.
The original concrete pavement is estimated to be 60 to 80 years old, but over the years had been overlaid with a couple of inches of asphalt. Terry Bragg, Program Manager and Engineer of Record-Project; and Director of Operations-CoTransCo, which manages road projects in Greenville County in South Carolina said, “Hercules Way’s original concrete pavement was overlaid with 1 ½ inches of asphalt that had completely oxidized. We looked at rubblizing the existing road to use it as the base for the new road but the total projected cost was too high.”
Bragg asked Andrew M. Johnson, PhD, PE, Pavement Design Engineer-Southeast Cement Promotion Association (SCPA) to help them evaluate the existing 70-year-old+ concrete as a base for the new road. In addition to confirming that the concrete could serve as a base for the new road with minimal repair, Johnson also suggested roller-compacted concrete (RCC) as an option to save costs and time.
The new estimate included:
• Saving what was in place
• Using RCC
• Striping
• Final cost was $694,691.88 (vs. $1.3 million for projected cost of rubblizing the existing
road to use it as the base for the new road—about HALF the cost!)
Concerns about the deteriorating asphalt and how it would affect the performance of the bond breakmaterial led to a change order to:
• Completely remove the asphalt
• Once uncovered, it was apparent that the original concrete was in surprisingly good condition
• Repaired 475 square yards of the existing concrete = 4% of the original concrete”
Loyd Amos, Recycling Market Development Manager-King Asphalt, said, “This was our company’s first RCC project, but we partnered with Andale Construction to produce the RCC and handle the finish work. We have a high-density paver and often handle projects that include paver-laid cement modified recycled base at depths that range from 6 to 12 inches, so our crew was accustomed to the increased lift thickness when it came to paving the RCC.”
Matt Munsick, Vice President-Andale Construction explained, “Because the company has extensive experience with RCC projects, Andale Construction was brought onto the project to:
• Provide the mix design
• Oversee production of the RCC
• Lay the geotextile fabric
• Complete with sawing
• Complete with trowel-finishing
• Worked with a local concrete plant to produce the RCC
• Provided the twin shaft mixer that is needed to produce the harsher, dryer RCC mix
This collaboration went well because King Asphalt wanted to learn how to work with RCC and already had the equipment needed to pave.” The final pavement was:
• 6 inches of RCC with a
• 6-ft. by 6-ft. panel size
• Geotextile interlayer over the original 8 inches of concrete
• The road has two 12-ft. driving lanes with
• 6-ft. shoulders on each side
• Asphalt wedges were placed at the edges of the pavement to transition to the adjacent areas since the new pavement was higher
• Re-routed employees and deliveries were able to drive on the road quickly
—Cars after 3 days
—Trucks after 7 days
“One of the lessons we learned during the project was the need to make sure our lines,
which were laid over the fabric, did not shift even slightly. One step we took
was to use pins and stringline on the outside edge. A transfer machine
was used in front of the paver to avoid stops and starts in the paving operation,
so some crew members stayed between the paver and transfer machine to
constantly monitor the lines,” said Amos.
“Overall, RCC as an overlay to existing pavement
is a good tool for a contractor’s toolbox.
The flexural strength, speed of paving, and cost savings make it a
good choice for many projects. The technology is still evolving,
and we are testing the use of steel fiber in 3-in. RCC for future projects,” added Munsick.
For this article titled “RCC and 60+ Concrete Pavement Team Up”, and more information, please go to the article in the 3rd Q of Concrete Pavement Progress Magazine: https://associationpublications.com/flipbook/acpa/2021/Q3/15/index.html
To learn more about RCC, please see related article below titled “Roller-Compacted Concrete in the Lab”:
As part of an effort to demonstrate the potential of RCC in many applications, the Roller-Compacted Concrete Pavement Council funded a surface durability research study at the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) Concrete Industry Management program. In the study, around 15 undergraduate students led by Dr. Heather Brown, Professor-School of Concrete and Construction Management–MTSU, and lauded subject matter expert on concrete, evaluated the abrasion resistance of 4 RCC mixtures:
1 – Type IL Portland Limestone Cement (PLC)
—Used with various aggregate combinations common in RCC production throughout the SE United States
2 – 5 Mix samples of RCC compacted in the laboratory
—Treated with various finishing aid products and troweled
3 – 1 Mix sample of RCC mix was compacted in the laboratory
—Sample NOT troweled to mimic traditional RCC surface
4 – 1 Mix proportioned using the PLC and aggregate blend from the Alabama Dept. of Transportation
(ALDOT) I-59 shoulder reconstruction project near Trussville, Alabama.
Brown said, “We’ve got a lot of interest from architects, engineers, and contractors about Type IL cement, so we were particularly excited to get samples from a project that is using Portland limestone cement in such large quantities.”
At MTSU’s laboratory, students built six slabs, 2-ft. by 2-ft. by 5.5-in., to represent the pavement at the I-59 project. The slabs were compacted to a density similar to densities typically required for pavement projects. All total, students made 24 compacted slabs, and extracted cores were tested for surface abrasion resistance, compressive strength, and density. The study results are being analyzed and a report will be available later in 2021.
For the article titled “Roller-Compacted Concrete in the Lab”, please go to the article in the 3rd Q of Concrete Pavement Progress Magazine:
https://associationpublications.com/flipbook/acpa/2021/Q3/22/index.html