Cite this article Research Article Keywords: concrete structures/failure/

Kim DH, Lee JH, Moon KH and Jeong JH Paper 2000141 pavement design
Effect of environmental factors on performance of jointed concrete pavements. Received 13/10/2020;
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Transport, Accepted 06/01/2021
https://doi.org/10.1680/jtran.20.00141
ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Transport

Effect of environmental factors on

performance of jointed concrete pavements
Dong-Hyuk Kim
Graduate student, Department of Civil Engineering, Inha University,
Michuhol-gu, Incheon, South Korea
Jun-Hyeok Lee
Assistant Mannager, Facility Diagnosis Department, Korea Electric Power
Corporation, Naju-si, Jeollannam-do, South Korea
Ki-Hoon Moon PhD
Senior Researcher, Korea Expressway Corporation Research Institute,
Korea Expressway Corporation, Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Jin-Hoon Jeong PhD
Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Inha University, Michuhol-gu,
Incheon, South Korea (corresponding author: jhj@inha.ac.kr)

This study investigated the distress conditions of test sections of concrete pavement that have been used for more
than the design life of 20 years. The study was performed using data from a highway pavement management system.
To determine the effects of distress and environmental factors, weather data were analysed for the test sections.
Regression models were developed for five types of distress: longitudinal cracks, asphalt patching, concrete patching,
durability cracks and longitudinal spalling. The influence of environmental factors was analysed, such as the days with
temperature below zero, number of freeze and thaw cycles, average relative humidity and the amount of de-icing salt
consumed. Using these models, the amount of distress was predicted and compared with the actual amount of
distress. The predicted amount of distress was similar to the actual amount of distress, indicating that the models
were properly developed. Using the results of this study, the distress of aging concrete pavement could be reduced by
managing the environmental factors more appropriately.

1. Introduction environmental load from temperature and humidity changes.

Most expressways in South Korea have been constructed using
concrete pavement, starting with the 88 Expressway (Route
12), which was opened in 1984. Expressway concrete pavement
has a lower construction cost than asphalt pavement, and
maintenance is not needed for a certain initial period, which
results in a lower life-cycle cost (Park, 2016; William et al.,
2001). Concrete pavement accounts for 59.6% of South
Korean expressways as of 2019, but most are older than their
20 year design life, as shown in Figure 1 (MOLIT, 2020a).
Moreover, the amount of aging concrete pavement beyond
20 years old is anticipated to increase by six times within the
next 10 years (Suh et al., 2012).
The yearly maintenance cost of all South Korean expressways
has increased over the past 10 years, as shown in Figure 2; this
was a result of increased budget allocation (MOLIT, 2020b).
The maintenance cost of expressways includes the repair cost for
aging pavements. Therefore, the increased amount of aging con-
crete pavement beyond 20 years old could be one of the reasons
for the increased budget allocation. There is an urgent need for
massive improvements because the condition of aging concrete
pavement is deteriorating substantially, and the repair cost is
increasing considerably. However, the repair of pavement distress
is mostly carried out on a small scale, so there is increasing
rehabilitation of repair sites, traffic accidents, traffic congestion
and social costs (William et al., 2001).
Nosov et al. (2017) studied the effects of ambient temperature
and ambient humidity on crack formation in a concrete
pavement slab and quantified the effects using computational
experiments. They reported that the deterioration of concrete
pavement was a result of not only the traffic load, but also the
The effects of traffic and environmental factors on the distress
conditions of jointed concrete pavement (JCP) have been
investigated for consideration in pavement design (Ceylan
et al., 2013; Kannekanti and Harvey, 2006). Son et al. (2011)
analysed the lifespan of aging concrete pavement that has been
overlaid with asphalt, as well as the effects of various traffic
and environmental factors. They concluded that the overlay
thickness, annual amount of precipitation and the number of
days with temperature above 32°C were related to the lifespan
of the overlay pavement.
Yu et al. (1998) reported that temperature factors such as the
average temperature and mean annual temperature range have
a great influence on the curling, expansion and contraction
of concrete slabs, which might cause distress in concrete
pavement. Hong (2012) quantified the effects of environmental
conditions on concrete pavement distress using the mean
annual daily range of temperature and the annual average
relative humidity. Jeong and Zollinger (2005) found that the
behaviour of concrete slabs varied with changes in temperature
and humidity, and predicted the resulting behaviour of the
slabs. Nam et al. (2006) reported that the performance of
concrete pavement largely depends on the coefficient of
thermal expansion of the concrete slab, which is affected by
the relative humidity.
The freezing and thawing of fluid that has infiltrated into
concrete are major factors that affect concrete distress
(Li et al., 2012). Choi et al. (2009) conducted a laboratory test
on core specimens of JCP and found that the deterioration of
the concrete slab was severe when water and chloride could
easily infiltrate the pavement. The calcium-chloride-based

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on performance of jointed
concrete pavements
Kim, Lee, Moon and Jeong

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35 > 30 years
> 25 years
30
> 20 years
25
Age: years

20 Design
lifespan
15

10

0
88 Honam Kyeongbu Jungbu Namhae Yeongdong Jungang Jungbunaeryuk
(Route 12) (Route 25) (Route 1) (Route 35) (Route 10) (Route 50) (Route 55) (Route 451)
Route

Figure 1. Age of concrete pavement in main expressway routes as of 2019

de-icing salt used in the winter causes salt distress in concrete are mainly caused by environmental factors. The purpose of
(Farnam et al., 2015), and cracks increase as more salt is used this study is to investigate the types of distress in aging JCP
(Suraneni et al., 2016). and the relevant environmental factors. For this purpose, data
on the distress and weather conditions of sections of aging JCP
The number of days with a temperature below zero (hereafter, were collected, and the correlation between the distress and
days below zero) and the number of freeze and thaw cycles are environmental factors was statistically analysed.
main causes of the initial cracking in concrete slabs (Bui et al.,
2013). Lee et al. (2000) determined the amount of de-icing salt 2. Collection of data relating to distress
consumed from the days of snowfall. They concluded that and environmental conditions
de-icing salt seriously deteriorates concrete surfaces through The methods and procedures used in this study are shown
decalcification reactions. Bui et al. (2013) investigated the sen- in Figure 3. The distress conditions of concrete pavement
sitivity of concrete to crack initiation due to freeze–thaw sections beyond 20 years old were investigated using data
attacks using two types of non-linear acoustic techniques: from the highway pavement management system (HPMS).
indirect transmission and semi-direct transmission. Studies to introduce the HPMS started in 1992 for the
systematic management of expressway pavements in South
There is a need to establish appropriate countermeasures Korea (Park and Suh, 2008). The HPMS began to collect data
against the distress effects in aging concrete pavement, which in 2003 when the development of the system and equipment

500

Selection of object sections of old concrete pavement

Maintenance cost: US$ million

400

300 Data collection for pavement

distresses and climate conditions

200

Statistical analysis for pavement distresses and

100 their environmental factors

0
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Development of pavement distress prediction models
Year

Figure 2. Yearly maintenance cost of all South Korean

expressways Figure 3. Methodology and procedure of this study

2
Transport Effect of environmental factors
on performance of jointed
concrete pavements
Kim, Lee, Moon and Jeong

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was completed. Data on the conditions of more than 4000 km

of pavement sections have been accumulated by the HPMS N
every year.

The HPMS data from 2012 to 2015 on the concrete pavement

of all South Korean expressways were analysed in this study.
The types of concrete pavement were divided into JCP and Wonju
Gunpo
continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP). A total Siheung Kyeongan
of 468.9 km of JCP with age over 20 years were analysed. The
Suwon
HPMS does not distinguish pavement in tunnels, so this was Jincheon
also included in the analysis.
Cheonan
Table 1 shows information about the pavement test sections.
The test sections were distributed among seven of the 35 South
Korean expressway routes, which are under the jurisdiction
of 11 local management offices, as shown in Figure 4. The
Changnyeong
length of the test sections managed by each local office varies
Ulsan
from 0.4 to 109.7 km, as shown in Table 1. The lengths of Jinju
the test sections of each route vary from 20.3 to 124.4 km.
Suncheon
Most concrete pavement on South Korean expressways has
been constructed with 6 m joint spacing, an asphalt shoulder
and a slab thickness of 300 mm.
km
The HPMS annually investigates the pavement distress in 0 50 100
expressways using 0.1 km/lane as one unit, and all pavement
sections are surveyed at least once every 3 years. The HPMS
collects data on nine types of distress for JCP: longitudinal Figure 4. Locations of 11 management offices examined
cracks, transverse cracks, concrete patching, asphalt patching,
scaling, durability cracks, pop-out, longitudinal spalling and
joint spalling. Figure 5 shows the percentages of distressed indicators from the Korea Expressway Corporation
sections for different types of distress out of a total of 4689 (KEC, 2012) and collecting weather data from the Korea
unit sections. Joint spalling occurred in 92.1% of all test Meteorological Administration (KMA, 2004–2013). The
sections, and durability cracks occurred in 12.6%. For the weather data included the average temperature, average relative
HPMS, the pavement surface of each unit section was divided humidity, amount of snowfall, days of snowfall, amount
into 300 mm by 300 mm grids to count the amount of of rainfall, days of rainfall, number of freeze and thaw cycles
occurrence of each type of distress. The number of grids that and days below zero for the last 10 years (2004–2013). The
include a part of any distress was counted to calculate the rate amount of de-icing salt consumed by each local management
of each type of distress with respect to the total number of office was also collected for a 5-year period (2012–2016).
grids in a pavement section.

The environmental factors affecting the distress of aging JCP

were investigated by surveying the guide to environmental %
0 20 40 60 80 100
Table 1. Information about test sections Longitudinal crack
Transverse crack
Pavement type Jointed concrete pavement (JCP)
Total length: km 468.9 Concrete patching

Seven pertinent routes Route 1 (23.6), Route 10 (113.7), Asphalt patching

(length of test sections: km)
Eleven pertinent local
management offices (length
of test sections: km)
Route 35 (124.4), Route 45 Scaling
(27.1), Route 50 (118.5), Route Durability crack
110 (20.3), Route 451 (41.3) Pop-out
Kyeongan (68.3), Gunpo (8.8),
Joint spalling
Suwon (0.6), Suncheon (38.2),
Longitudinal spalling
Siheung (20.3), Ulsan (0.4),
Wonju (109.7), Jinju (75.5),
Jincheon (56.1), Changnyeong Figure 5. Percentages of distressed sections among total test
(68.4), Cheonan (22.6) sections

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Table 2. Environmental factors of locations of test sections

Location AVT: °C RH: % DBZ: days DR: days DS: days AMS: mm AMR: mm ATR: °C AMD: ton/km NFT

Kyeongan 11.73 68.58 63.2 109.5 10.8 27.78 1646.69 29.68 35.76 49
Gunpo 11.54 67.87 66.4 105.3 11.1 28.25 1433.27 29.53 35.77 49
Suwon 12.46 68.17 55.9 111.3 12.8 30.85 1465.14 29.39 14.86 49
Suncheon 12.85 73.79 39.6 122.8 14.1 32.1 1571.88 26.41 16.4 37
Siheung 12.40 68.57 50 103.8 11.5 28.96 1350.78 28.18 45.29 49
Ulsan 14.32 63.26 19 100.8 2.8 10.21 1187.22 25.43 8.68 13
Wonju 12.00 64.81 63 120.1 16.5 33.4 1502.52 30.12 50 58
Jinju 13.48 66.94 35.1 101 2.5 4.8 1545.41 26.80 4.01 27
Jincheon 13.09 63.04 50.1 117.1 16.9 39 1343.48 29.84 35.32 44
Changnyeong 13.71 62.53 35.8 93.7 2.4 5.84 1186.09 27.22 8.57 31
Cheonan 12.09 68.75 58.2 117.2 18.4 44.52 1280.46 29.24 40.94 55

AVT, average temperature (°C); AVH, average relative humidity (%); DBZ, days below zero (days); DR, days of rainfall (days); DS, days of snowfall (days); AMS, amount
of snowfall (mm); AMR, amount of rainfall (mm); ATR, mean annual temperature range (°C); AMD, consumed amount of de-icing salt (ton/km); NFT, number of freeze
and thaw cycles. Bold values indicate the maximum and minimum values in each environmental factor

The meteorological data were collected from meteorological rainfall was highest in Kyeongan and the average temperature
stations adjacent to the local management offices. was the lowest in Ulsan.

Curling occurs due to a specific temperature difference 3. Influence of environmental factors

according to the depth of the slab, which results from
temperature changes, whereas warping occurs owing to
differences in concrete shrinkage attributable to the slab depth
(Jeong and Zollinger, 2004, 2005; Jeong et al., 2006). Stress is
generated in the slab if the curling and warping of the slab are
constrained by the slab’s tare weight, friction between the
slab and the subbase, dowel bars and tie bars. Therefore, data
were collected on the mean annual range of temperature,
average temperature and average relative humidity from the
meteorological stations.
The penetration of water into the lower parts of pavement
reduces the rigidity of each pavement layer, resulting in distress
and a shorter lifetime (MLTM, 2009). Therefore, the annual
amount of rainfall and days of rainfall were collected.
Volumetric expansion due to frost from water in the concrete
on distress
The relationship between various types of distress and
environmental factors was analysed. Regression models were
developed for longitudinal cracks, concrete patching, durability
cracks and longitudinal spalling distresses, which were found
to be strongly affected by environmental factors.
3.1 Correlation analysis
Figure 6 shows the number of instances of longitudinal
spalling per unit section according to the annual amount of
de-icing salt consumed. The amount of pavement distress was
very broadly distributed according to the environmental
factors, so it was difficult to find a correlation between them.
Number of longitudinal spallings per 100 m

120
also results in pavement distress (Richardson and Lusher,
2015), so the number of freeze and thaw cycles during the year 100
was obtained from the KEC’s environmental indicators. The
number of days with temperature below zero was also 80
collected. In addition, calcium chloride de-icing salt may cause
salt distress in concrete, so information regarding the amount 60
of de-icing salt consumed was collected from the local offices
that manage the test sections. The cumulative annual amount 40
of snowfall and days of snowfall were also collected from
meteorological stations, as shown in Table 2. 20
R2 = 0.101

The Wonju area had the highest salt consumption, mean 0

annual temperature range and number of freeze and thaw 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
cycles. The Cheonan area had the highest amount of snowfall Amount of de-icing salt consumed: ton/km
and days of snowfall. The days of rainfall and average relative
Figure 6. Example of the number of distress instances according
humidity were highest in the Suncheon area, while the number to environmental factors before the removal of outliers
of days below zero was highest in Gunpo, the amount of

4
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Therefore, the 4689 unit sections were categorised according to
the 11 local management offices. The average amounts of the
various types of distress per unit section were obtained for
each local management office, and the correlations with
environmental factors were investigated.
The distress data were classified according to the local manage-
ment offices and analysed using a box plot analysis to remove
outliers. The inter-quartile range (IQR) was also obtained,
which is the difference between the first quartile (Q1 ) and the
third quartile (Q3 ). As an example, the results for longitudinal
spalling are shown in Figure 7. The values in the range of
Q1 − 1.5IQR to Q3 + 1.5IQR were defined as outliers and
removed. Figure 8 shows the relationship between the number
of instances of longitudinal spalling and the amount of
de-icing salt consumed per unit section. The average value was
obtained and analysed after eliminating outliers of various
distresses per unit section for each local management office.
Table 3 shows the results of the correlation analysis between
various distress features and environmental factors. It is
assumed that there is a correlation between distress and
environmental factors when the absolute value of the
correlation coefficient (R) is more than 0.4 and the significance
probability (P-value) is 0.05 or less in a one-sided test (Chae,
2003). The results show that the distress features of aging
concrete pavement such as longitudinal cracks, asphalt
120
110
100
Number of longitudinal spallings per 100 m
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 and thaw cycles. However, the P-values of all multiple
Figure 7. Example of elimination of outliers using box plot
analysis
Effect of environmental factors
on performance of jointed
concrete pavements
Kim, Lee, Moon and Jeong
15
Number of longitudinal spallings per 100 m
10
R2 = 0.5321
5
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Amount of de-icing salt consumed: ton/km
Figure 8. Example of the number of distress instances according
to environmental factors after removal of outliers
patching, concrete patching, durability cracks and longitudinal
spalling were affected by the average temperature, average
relative humidity, days below zero, days of snowfall, amount of
snowfall, amount of rainfall, mean annual temperature range,
amount of de-icing salt consumed and number of freeze and
thaw cycles, but not the days of rainfall.
3.2 Development of distress prediction models
Multiple regression analyses were conducted to model the
effects of environmental factors on the distress of aging
concrete pavement. As a result, prediction models were
developed for longitudinal cracks, asphalt patching, concrete
patching, durability cracks and longitudinal spalling. Each
distress type and the correlating environmental factors were
used as dependent and independent variables for each model,
respectively, as shown in Table 4. The longitudinal cracks were
affected by the average temperature, days below zero and
amount of rainfall. Asphalt patching was affected by the days
below zero and the number of freeze and thaw cycles. Concrete
patching was affected by the average temperature, days below
zero, mean annual temperature range, amount of de-icing salt
consumed and number of freeze and thaw cycles.
Durability cracks were influenced by only the average relative
humidity. For longitudinal spalling, the most influential
variables were the average temperature, days below zero, days
of snowfall, amount of snowfall, mean annual temperature
range, amount of de-icing salt consumed and number of freeze
regression models were greater than 0.05 except the value for
the durability cracks, indicating insignificant correlation
between the dependent and independent variables.
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Table 3. Analysis results for correlation between distress features and environmental factors
Environmental factor

Distress type AVT AVH DBZ DR DS AMS AMR ATR AMD NFT

LC
R −0.540 0.273 0.559 0.132 0.182 0.227 0.529 0.502 0.031 0.366
P-value 0.043 0.208 0.037 0.349 0.297 0.251 0.047 0.058 0.464 0.134
TC
R −0.100 0.227 0.095 0.167 0.029 0.070 0.345 0.086 −0.320 −0.025
P-value 0.385 0.251 0.390 0.311 0.466 0.419 0.149 0.400 0.169 0.470
AP
R 0.508 −0.350 −0.545 −0.077 −0.258 −0.221 −0.406 −0.469 −0.243 −0.604
P-value 0.055 0.145 0.042 0.411 0.221 0.257 0.108 0.073 0.236 0.025
CP
R −0.603 −0.061 0.660 0.479 0.507 0.424 0.308 0.641 0.580 0.587
P-value 0.025 0.429 0.014 0.068 0.056 0.097 0.178 0.017 0.031 0.029
SC
R 0.414 −0.481 −0.291 −0.237 −0.168 −0.191 −0.557 −0.102 −0.138 −0.150
P-value 0.154 0.114 0.243 0.286 0.346 0.326 0.076 0.405 0.372 0.362
DC
R −0.364 0.571 0.159 0.250 0.209 0.227 0.146 −0.173 0.138 0.084
P-value 0.150 0.042 0.330 0.243 0.281 0.264 0.344 0.317 0.352 0.409
PO
R 0.112 −0.269 −0.078 0.176 0.078 0.098 −0.135 0.014 −0.035 −0.223
P-value 0.379 0.226 0.415 0.314 0.415 0.393 0.355 0.484 0.462 0.268
JS
R 0.132 −0.247 −0.167 0.234 0.011 −0.032 −0.019 −0.152 0.132 −0.239
P-value 0.350 0.232 0.312 0.244 0.487 0.463 0.478 0.328 0.350 0.240
LS
R −0.594 −0.117 0.648 0.460 0.608 0.565 −0.010 0.650 0.729 0.647
P-value 0.027 0.366 0.016 0.077 0.024 0.035 0.488 0.015 0.005 0.016

LC, longitudinal crack; TC, transverse crack; CP, concrete patching; AP, asphalt patching; SC, scaling; DC, durability crack; PO, pop-out; JS, joint spalling;
LS, longitudinal spalling. Bold values indicate the P-value is less than 0.05

Table 4. Results of multiple regression analysis for distress features and environmental factors
Distress Corrected
type Regression model R R2 R2 P-value

LC LC = −204.17 + 9.05AVT + 0.93DBZ + 0.04AMR 0.651 0.423 0.176 0.125

AP AP = 10.34 + 0.06DBZ − 0.22NFT 0.609 0.371 0.213 0.073
CP CP = −105.85 + 14.8AVT + 1.59DBZ − 5.29ATR + 0.17AMD − 0.23NFT 0.759 0.577 0.154 0.165
DC DC = −22.69 + 0.39AVH 0.571 0.326 0.242 0.042
LS LS = −93.99 + 14.54AVT + 1.57DBZ + 0.92DS − 0.28AMS − 5.53ATR + 0.23AMD − 0.35NFT 0.848 0.719 0.062 0.256

The correlation between independent variables was observed
in consideration of multicollinearity, as shown in Table 5.
In the case of longitudinal cracks, the average temperature and
days below zero could not be used as independent variables
of the model together, since they showed high correlation.
However, the average temperature and amount of rainfall
or the days below zero and the amount of rainfall could be
used as independent variables together based on their relatively
low correlation. Thus, two multiple-regression models of
longitudinal cracks were developed using two sets of
independent variables: the average temperature and amount
of rainfall, and the amount of rainfall and days below zero.
However, both models of longitudinal cracks were finally
excluded since the P-values were greater than 0.05. A simple
regression model was developed using the days below zero,
which showed the highest correlation with the dependent
variable among the three independent variables, as shown in
Table 6.
In the case of asphalt patching, concrete patching, durability
cracks and longitudinal spalling, all the independent variables
of each model showed a relatively high correlation with each
other. This indicates that only one independent variable that
had the highest correlation with the dependent variable of
each model could be used. Thus, as shown in Table 6, simple
regression models were developed using a single independent
variable that had the highest correlation with the dependent
variable among the independent variables shown in Table 4.

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Table 5. Correlation between independent variables

AVT AVH DBZ DR DS AMS AMR ATR AMD NFT

AVT
R 1 — — — — — — — — —
P-value — — — — — — — — — —
AVH
R −0.479 1 — — — — — — — —
P-value 0.136 — — — — — — — — —
DBZ
R −0.961 0.276 1 — — — — — — —
P-value 0.000 0.411 — — — — — — — —
DR
R −0.465 0.466 0.455 1 — — — — — —
P-value 0.150 0.149 0.160 — — — — — — —
DS
R −0.672 0.362 0.703 0.882 1 — — — — —
P-value 0.023 0.274 0.016 0.000 — — — — — —
AMS
R −0.683 0.390 0.698 0.833 0.985 1 — — — —
P-value 0.023 0.235 0.017 0.001 0.000 — — — — —
AMR
R −0.534 0.610 0.454 0.441 0.252 0.203 1 — — —
P-value 0.091 0.046 0.161 0.174 0.454 0.549 — — — —
ATR
R −0.800 −0.023 0.929 0.436 0.707 0.691 0.295 1 — —
P-value 0.003 0.946 0.000 0.180 0.015 0.019 0.378 — — —
AMD
R −0.759 0.104 0.768 0.493 0.756 0.753 0.144 0.752 1 —
P-value 0.007 0.761 0.006 0.123 0.007 0.007 0.673 0.008 — —
NFT
R −0.903 0.312 0.944 0.570 0.822 0.801 0.361 0.893 0.830 1
P-value 0.000 0.350 0.000 0.067 0.002 0.003 0.275 0.000 0.002 —

Bold values indicate the P-value is less than 0.05

Table 6. Development of multiple regression models considering multicollinearity

Distress type Regression model R R2 Corrected R 2 P-value

LC (a) LC = 50.53–6.63AVT + 0.035AMR 0.610 0.372 0.215 0.072

(b) LC = −56.55 + 0.44DBZ + 0.036AMR 0.639 0.408 0.260 0.062
(c) LC = −13.66 + 0.611DBZ 0.559 0.313 0.236 0.037
AP AP = 10.65 − 0.159NFT 0.604 0.365 0.294 0.025
CP CP = −2.858 + 0.16DBZ 0.660 0.436 0.373 0.014
DC DC = −22.69 + 0.39AVH 0.571 0.326 0.242 0.042
LS LS = 0.472 + 0.154AMD 0.729 0.532 0.480 0.005

Bold values indicate the P-value is less than 0.05

The correlation coefficient (R) and the determination
coefficient (R 2) of the regression models were 0.5 and 0.3 or
more, and the P-values were less than 0.05.
In the case of asphalt patching, the number of freeze and
thaw cycles was selected as an independent variable for
the regression model. The asphalt patching was inversely
proportional to the number of freeze and thaw cycles. It was
estimated that a higher number of freeze and thaw cycles could
lead pavement maintainers to resort to concrete patching
more quickly, which is commonly more durable than asphalt
patching and could therefore supplant asphalt patching. As a
result, concrete patching increased according to the increase
of the number of freeze and thaw cycles rather than
asphalt patching when comparing between distresses and
environmental factors (Table 3).
4. Verification and utilisation of model
The amounts of distress of aging concrete pavement were
predicted using the models of longitudinal cracks, asphalt
patching, concrete patching, durability cracks and longitudinal
spalling shown in Figure 9. The results were compared with
the amount of actual distress according to the HPMS, as
shown in Figure 10. Each data point in the figure represents

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(a) (b)

(c) (d)

(e)

Figure 9. Distress types predicted by models: (a) longitudinal crack; (b) asphalt patching; (c) concrete patching; (d) durability crack;
(e) longitudinal spalling

the average number of grids with the distress in a unit section
of 0.1 km/lane representing the whole pavement sections
managed by each local office. The x-axis represents the
amount of actual distress per 100 m of unit section in each
area, and the y-axis represents the amount of distress predicted
by the regression models.
The predicted distress tended to be proportional to the actual
distress, which means that the models were properly developed.
The longitudinal spalling model showed higher correlation
than the concrete patching model. Therefore, the results
verified that the models developed could generally predict well
the amount of distress of aging concrete pavement, including

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Transport Effect of environmental factors
on performance of jointed
concrete pavements
Kim, Lee, Moon and Jeong

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Author copy for personal use, not for distribution

6
60
Predicted number of longitudinal

Predicted number of asphalt

R2 = 0.3235
45

patchings per 100 m

4
cracks per 100 m

30 R2 = 0.365

2
15

0 0
0 15 30 45 60 0 2 4 6
Actual number of longitudinal Actual number of asphalt
cracks per 100 m patchings per 100 m
(a) (b)

15 10
Predicted number of durability
Predicted number of concrete

12 R2 = 0.436 8 R2 = 0.3261
patchings per 100 m

cracks per 100 m

9 6

6 4

3 2

0 0
0 3 6 9 12 15 0 2 4 6 8 10
Actual number of concrete Actual number of durability
patchings per100 m cracks per 100 m
(c) (d)

15
Predicted number of longitudinal

12 R2 = 0.5321
spallings per 100 m

0
0 3 6 9 12 15
Actual number of longitudinal
spallings per 100 m
(e)

Figure 10. Comparison between actual and predicted distress features: (a) longitudinal crack; (b) asphalt patching; (c) concrete patching;
(d) durability crack; (e) longitudinal spalling

9
Transport
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longitudinal cracks, asphalt patching, concrete patching,
durability cracks and longitudinal spalling.
5. Conclusion
In this study, multiple regression analyses were conducted
using HPMS and weather data to model the effects of
environmental factors on the distress of aging concrete
pavements of South Korean expressways. Based on the results,
the following conclusions were drawn.
(a) The distress of aging JCP was found to be significantly
affected by environmental factors such as the average
temperature, average relative humidity, days below zero,
days of snowfall, amount of snowfall, days of rainfall,
mean annual temperature range, amount of de-icing salt
consumed and number of freeze and thaw cycles. These
factors were correlated with five types of distress:
longitudinal cracks, asphalt patching, concrete patching,
durability cracks and longitudinal spalling.
(b) The correlation between the environmental factors and
each type of distress was observed while considering
multicollinearity. The independent variables of each
multiple regression model were then determined. By
considering the statistical significance of each model,
four simple models were developed: one for longitudinal
cracks, one for asphalt patching, one for concrete
patching, one for durability cracks and one for
longitudinal spalling. The independent variables of the
models were the days below zero, number of freeze and
thaw cycles, average relative humidity and amount of
de-icing salt consumed.
(c) The average amount of distress for all pavement sections
managed by each local office was predicted using the
regression models, which were verified by comparing the
predicted amounts with the actual amounts. The
predicted amount of distress was similar to the actual
amount of distress, indicating that the models were
properly developed.
(d) The results of the models developed are statistically
significant, but they cannot be considered perfect because
of a lack of other factors such as materials and structural
features. Therefore, the distress of aging concrete
pavements could be managed more efficiently by
considering other feasible factors.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the research grants of the Korea
Expressway Corporation (KEC) and Inha University.
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