1. Durable pavement for Steel Decks

2. History
late 1950s Shell Oil develops jet fuel and hydraulic oil resistant paving for airport taxiways.
Caltrans uses Epoxy Asphalt on San Mateo- Hayward Bridge (in use).
Bay Bridge 18mm overlay on lightweight concrete (in use).
Golden Gate Bridge redecked (in use).
nd Nanjing (first Asia project).
--5th generation product used for the first time

3. Applications Orthotropic steel decks New construction
Replacement paving
Re-decking
Overlays
Temporary chip seals
For replacement deck panels
High (heavy weight) traffic, strategic roads with long life requirement
Fuel and chemical resistant paving
Lionsgate Br

4. EA Chemistry
Epoxy cross-linked polymer: continuous phase, asphalt: discontinuous phase
2 component binder and 2 component bond coat
Part A Resin
Part B Asphalts and cross-linkers
Ambient temperature reactive cure mechanism
Cured polymer is thermoset (won’t melt)

5. Properties Extremely high fatigue resistance High strength bond coat
Protects against delamination
Ensures composite action with steel
Resists high summer deck temperatures
Thermoset
Will not melt
Higher modulus than other flexible pavements
Reduces deck deflection
Element meshing
“Epoxy Asphalt has a fatigue life of 2 to 3 orders
of magnitude greater than the PG76-22 I-5 mix…”.
--Rutgers University study

6. Properties Does not oxidize (like all other asphalts)
No embrittlement upon aging
Low voids (typically ~2 %)
Water impermeable
No chloride ion penetration
No corrosion--no membrane required
High Temperature bond performance
FHWA OECD Long Lived Pavement Study
Turner Fairbanks Highway Research Center

7. Fundamental difference
HMA Asphalt, SMA, Gussasphalt, PMA are thermoplastics: will melt
Epoxy Asphalt is thermoset: will not melt
“Epoxy Asphalt concrete has shown excellent performance including anti-cracking feature
under low temperature, stability under high temperatures and oil-corrosion resistance.…”
--W. Wang, Chang’an University

8. Advantages Low permeability prevents deck corrosion
Fatigue resistance minimizes cracks
4+ times more stability than standard AC
Handles truck wheel overloads (common in Asia)
--Rutgers Univ.

9. Advantages No rutting or shoving Use standard AC paving equipment
Very high bond strength
Paving placement is fast
Won’t delaminate
“The superior oxidation resistance of the epoxy asphalt
material was even more obvious in the Cantabro tests…”
--Transit New Zealand—OECD report

10. Typical new construction detail

11. EA Specifications Dense graded mix, ½” (12mm) minus
Basalt rock for skid resistance and long wear
Low temperature paving ( ºC)
Time/temp monitoring is critical QC element
Similar temps to warm mix
Lab simulation (fatigue testing) advised for unique decks

12. O-T Deck Pavement Stress from wheel load deflection
Longitudinal stiffener
TENSION

13. Fatigue testing evaluate pavement design on project specific deck
Keys
Realistic paving composite specimens
Good tests take time
Research performance of local materials (aggregates)
Use environmental chamber to control extreme temps

14. Comparison: EA vs. polymer modified AC or SMA
Properties
Condition
Epoxy Asphalt
Polymer AC
High temperatures
Will not melt
Melts
Permeability
None
measurable
Changes with age
a. Will not oxidize
b. Flexibility constant
No age related performance losses
Oxidizes
Flexibility declines
Delamination potential
Very low
Consistent composite behavior
High
Fuel resistance
Low—will soften and dissolve binder
Rutting, shoving
Stable
Unstable under high temps and loads

15. Chinese standard deck detail
Fatigue test specimen
with 3 pt. dynamic load
on 300 mm center
300 mm stiffener spacing
12 mm deck plate (prior to 1999)
14 mm deck plate (after 1999)
50-55 mm EA paving
Locus of highest stress is over stiffeners, particularly in truck lanes
Dynamic fatigue test is good predictor

16. Asian conditions High deck temps To 90 °C
Extreme temperature cycle between winter and summer
Construction QC varies widely
Standardized deck design in mainland

17. Asian conditions Consistent very high truck wheel overloads
To 120 MT on 18 wheelers
SMA and gussasphalt sometimes fail as quickly as 2-3 yrs.
SuTong Br.

18. EA: Disadvantages Time and temperature controls critical
Controls can lead to higher quality and uniformity
Paving plant needs to be within minute drive
Too complicated
Over 35 bridges in Asia in past 10 yrs successfully completed
including 1st suspension bridge in Viet Nam
ChemCo provides advisors
Use test section in convenient location to train local paving crews before deck placement
Costs more
Cost difference dwarfed by frequent closures and repaving
Thuan Phuoc Bridge
DaNang, Viet Nam

19. Next in N. America Fremont, Portland 2011 MacDonald, Nova Scotia ~2015
Repave in July
MacDonald, Nova Scotia ~2015
Redeck similar to Lionsgate
San Francisco-Oakland Bay ~2012
Single anchored suspension (new East Span)

20. Future Reduce pavement weight
Local manufacturing
OECD-ECMT Joint Transport Research on long life pavements
(U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia)
Open graded performance benefits demonstrated
Improve fatigue performance in most challenging applications
Decks with extremely high wheel overloads
Decks with thin plates (12 mm)
Hottest tropical environments

21. Conclusions Design, test and confirm for wear course success
Epoxy Asphalt, a thermoset material, performs on challenging decks
Epoxy Asphalt offers life cycle cost benefits
Asian lessons learned
Over design surfacing when realistic data not available
Be flexible to adopt local improvements

22. Thanks for your interest!