Full Scale Evaluation of Surface Treatments for Airfield Concrete Pavement Repair

Surface deterioration of concrete pavements requires maintenance. Highway and airfield pavements exhibit many of the same maintenance issues, but airfields have several additional unique issues and requirements. Among these are petroleum contamination on aircraft parking areas and a high potential for failed concrete or maintenance materials to damage aircraft. To address these issues, commercially available surface-applied treatment products were assessed for use on concrete pavements with particular focus on the special requirements of airfields. Fourteen products encompassing numerous chemistries were evaluated in a full-scale field experiment. The specific objectives of this study were to investigate materials for field application issues, adhesion to concrete (for both clean and oil contaminated concrete), the ability to seal cracks, behavior under aircraft traffic loads including surface friction, and durability over time with exposure to environmental conditions. Test strips of each material were applied to deteriorated concrete slabs. Half of the concrete was intentionally contaminated with oil while the other half was left clean. Simulated aircraft traffic was applied and periodic visual observations and surface friction measurements were made. Two years after material application, a final visual assessment was made. Many of the products performed well on clean concrete; however, oil contaminated concrete detrimentally affected many of them. Of the fourteen products evaluated, two of the epoxy based materials clearly emerged as the best performing.