Title

Factors affecting winter performance of Ultra-Thin Bonded Wearing Course (UTBWC).

Authors

Zhao, Yunpeng; Goulias, Dimitrios

Abstract

Ultra-Thin Bonded Wearing Course (UTBWC) surfacing was developed as a preventative maintenance option to extend pavement life. Despite the successful applications of UTBWC in various states, feedback indicates that severe icing and snow accumulation occur during winter storms. Similar concerns have been identified by other states. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate how prevalent the problem is, to assess the winter performance of UTBWC compared to adjacent dense graded hot mix asphalt (HMA) surfaces and to determine whether any issue is dependent on temperature, snowfall, mixture properties or traffic using geospatial and statistical analysis. Survey responses from districts indicated that more than half of the sections experienced moderate snow accumulation and ice formation issues. The geospatial analysis showed that such issues may not be dependent only on temperature and/or snow accumulation. Statistical analysis on mix design and quality assurance (QA) indicated that mixture air voids play an important role. While this study considered all UTBWC sections in the state, it represents an initial assessment, and thus it is recommended that additional data over time should be used for further validating the results and analysis. Finally, recommendations for improving winter maintenance operations were provided.

Subjects

SNOW accumulation; QUALITY assurance; ASPHALT; WINTER; STATISTICS; WINTER storms

Publication

International Journal of Pavement Engineering, 2024, Vol 25, Issue 1, p1

ISSN

1029-8436

Publication type

Academic Journal

DOI

10.1080/10298436.2024.2417972