The Summer 2024 newsletter of the National Concrete Consortium has the following items:
• Sustainable Pavements: CRCP Across Texas: The Summer 2024 NC² Moving Advancements into Practice (MAP) Brief from the NC² Resource Library delves into the successful deployment of CRCP throughout Texas, highlighting the design principles and construction practices used to build these pavements and the substantial benefits they offer in terms of durability and sustainability. CRCPs are renowned for their exceptional performance in handling heavy traffic loads and resisting severe weather conditions.
• FHWA Bridge Preservation Research Roadmap: Proactive bridge preservation is becoming increasingly important to cost-effectively maintain bridge inventories in states of good repair. This document includes a review of publications and research led by the FHWA, state DOTs and AASHTO from 2010 to 2022 to assess accomplishments and remaining gaps. Additional gaps were also identified to support FHWA initiatives in sustainability, infrastructure resilience, risk evaluation and big data as they relate to bridge preservation and management.
• Commentary on AASHTO R 101, Developing Performance Engineered Concrete Pavement Mixtures: This manual presents commentary explaining the context and rationale for the recommendations provided in the AASHTO R 101, Developing Performance Engineered Concrete Pavement Mixtures. The intent of the commentary is to provide transportation agencies with tools for preparing a specification for concrete pavement mixtures that moves closer to measuring and basing acceptance on parameters that are critical to the long-term performance of the pavement system.
• Performance and Design of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavements: This report focuses on the calibration of a design framework for continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) by using the most recent performance data acquired from existing CRCP sections in Illinois. New CRCP design charts were compared to AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design and the software was run to predict the performance of CRCP overlays and compare the performance data of constructed unbonded concrete overlays. CRCP overlay thickness design tables were developed using AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design.
• Use of Industrial Byproducts in Concrete Paving Applications: Research and field studies have shown that industrial byproducts can be beneficially used in several bound and unbound applications in concrete paving projects. Potential applications for using these wastes in highway infrastructure were identified and design considerations were discussed. Approaches and considerations for agency approval of these products were also presented.
• MIT Conductive Concrete Consortium Cements Five-Year Research Agreement with Japanese Industry: The MIT EC3 Hub, an outgrowth of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, will develop multifunctional concrete applications for infrastructure.
• Video: Implementation of Concrete Overlay Evaluation and Design 5-6910-01 (CRCP Overlay in Paris, Texas): The primary tasks in this implementation project are to train TxDOT staff to evaluate existing portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements, develop appropriate optimum overlay strategies and to conduct early-age performance evaluations of PCC overlays.
Click here to access links to each of the above reports/video in the NCC newsletter.
National Ready Mixed Concrete Association