Resurfacing of a taxiway at the Salgado FilhoAirport, Brazil, incorporating HaTelit® C 40/17

Situation:
In 2001 the existing access to an aircraft maintenance hangar (up to Boeing 737) had to be resurfaced after more than 40 years of use. The existing pavement was made of 6.0 x 3.5 m concrete slabs, 300 mm thick. The slabs were bedded on a layer of gravel.
The design involved the installation of a new 50 mm asphalt layer on the existing pavement. In order to prevent the propagation of the expansion joints from the concrete slabs into the new asphalt layer, the asphalt reinforcement, HaTelit® C 40/17, was to be installed, in order to extend the fatigue life of the rehabilitated pavement.
It was not possible to block the access for an extended period. Therefore the rehabilitation works had to be finished in just one night.

Construction progress:
First an asphalt levelling course was installed on the existing concrete pavement, as the asphalt reinforcement, HaTelit® C 40/17, must always be placed between two bituminous layers.
The HaTelit® C 40/17 was installed on the levelling course, in 1.0 m wide strips, only over the expansion joints. The installation was done according to the HUESKER installation guidelines.
To keep to the very tight time frame it was decided, on site, just to reinforce the heavily loaded inner part of the pavement. The outer part, where the planes normally do not taxi, was left unreinforced. Afterwards a 50 mm asphalt layer was installed on the HaTelit®.
What initially was thought to be a pure practical solution, developed into an ideal demonstration of the effectiveness of an asphalt reinforcement. It is now possible to compare directly, between an unreinforced, and a HaTelit® C 40/17 reinforced, pavement.

Result:
In October 2007, approx. 7 years after the rehabilitation, the first assessment of the pavement took place. At which time the designer, the technical manager of the airport and an employee of HUESKER were present.
The expansion joints in the unreinforced areas had already propagated to the top of the surfacing. The green, visible in the developed cracks, led to the conclusion, that these cracks had existed for some time. In contrast to this, the HaTelit® reinforced areas did not show any indications of cracking.
The propagation of the expansion joints in the unreinforced areas can only be ascribed to the different temperature behaviour and the consequential horizontal stresses. As well as the temperature induced horizontal stresses the HaTelit® reinforced area was also exposed to the dynamic loads from the passing planes. This example again clearly demonstrates, that the use of the asphalt reinforcement HaTelit® C 40/17 delays the development of reflective cracks.
Through this the service life of a pavement is considerably extended and the service intervals will be appreciably increased. The associated savings lead to a considerable reduction of costs on asphalt pavement maintenance.
The use of HaTelit® C 40/17 is a technical proven and economically solution.