Types of Portland cement Concrete Pavement Failures:

Rigid pavement (Cement Concrete Pavement) is those, which reduces the stress concentration
and distributes the reduced stresses uniformly to the area under the slab. The rigid pavements are
made of cement concrete either plan, reinforced or prestressed concrete.

1. Scaling

Scaling of rigid pavement simply means, peeling off or flaking off of the top layer or skin of the
concrete surface due to improper mix design, when excessive vibrations are given to the mix,
cement mortar will come on top during the construction and thus with use the cement mortar gets
abraded exposing the aggregates of the mix.

2. Shrinkage Cracks

Formation of hairline shallow cracks on concrete slab is the indication of shrinkage cracks.
Shrinkage cracks develop on concrete surface during the setting & curing operation. These
cracks may form in longitudinal as well as in transverse direction.

3. Spalling of Joints
Spalling is excessive compressive stress cause deterioration in the joints. This may be related to
joint infiltration or the growth of pavement that are caused by the reactive aggregates. Poor
quality concrete or construction technique will also result in joint spalling.

4. Warping Cracks
If the joints are not well designed to accommodate the warping of slabs at edges, this
results in development of excessive stresses due to warping and the slab develops
cracking at the edges in an irregular pattern. Hinge joints are generally provided for
relieving the slabs of warping stresses. There is no structural defect due to warping cracks
if proper reinforcement is provided at the longitudinal and transverse joints as it takes
care of the structural in-adequacy.

5. Pumping

When material present below the road slab ejects out through the joints or cracks, it is called
pumping. When soil slurry comes out it is called mud pumping due to Infiltration of water
through the joints, cracks or edge of the pavement forms soil slurry. Movement of heavy vehicles
on pavement forces this soil slurry to come out causing mud pumping, when there is void space
between slab and the underlying base of sub-grade layer. Pumping can also lead to formation of
cracks. This is because; ejection of sub-grade material below the slab causes loss of sub-grade
support. When traffic movement occurs at these locations, it fails to resist the wheel load due to
reduction of sub-grade support and develops cracks.