Effect of Installation Parameters on Performance of Hot-Poured Crack Sealants

A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different installation parameters, namely, rout geometry, crack treatment type (rout & seal, clean & seal), overbanding, installation temperature and pre-installation pavement condition rating on the performance of crack sealants. Eight hot-poured crack sealants were installed in three test sites that experience low temperatures. The field performance of crack sealants was evaluated for two consecutive years by conducting detailed field surveys. The field database consisted of 38 sections containing a total of 487 cracks. The collected field survey data were used to assign a performance index (PI) to each sealant in this study. According to the preliminary results obtained from the field surveys within two years after installation, crack sealants installed in smallest rout geometry exhibited best acceptable performance among all the rout geometries. Sealants that were installed by the clean & seal method showed poor performance compared with their rout & seal counterparts on the same test section. On the other hand, overbanding showed improvement in the performance of crack sealants. Traffic volume and overheating of sealants appeared to deteriorate performance of sealants. Underheating of sealants and pre-installation pavement condition rating of pavement showed no clear trend on the performance of sealants.