Dept.

of Civil Engineering
Technical Seminar on
WHITE TOPPING : LONG LASTING CONCRETE
OVERLAY OF BITUMINOUS PAVEMENTS

PRESENTED BY :
Zuheb Akhter
1GD16CV041

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 CONTENTS
 Introduction.
 Definition and types of white topping.
 UTWT projects in India.
 Construction steps.
 Advantages of White Topping.
 Disadvantages of white topping.
 Case study, demonstrated project of TWT.
 Summary.
 References.
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 INTRODUCTION
 Road traffic is increasing over a year
 Many flexible pavements have thin bituminous layer
 Most of our roads exhibit the following deficiencies
a. Rutting
b. Fatigue cracking
c. Block crack
d. Thermal cracking

Rutting

Fatigue cracking Block crack Thermal cracking

 DEFINATION
White Topping is defined as a Portland Cement Concrete
(PCC) overlay constructed on the top of the existing
distressed bituminous pavement
rehabilitation or structural strengthening alternative on
bituminous pavement

TYPES OF WHITETOPPING
1) Conventional white topping (200mm or more)
2) Thin white topping (TWT) (100-200mm)
3) Ultra-thin white topping (UTWT)(≤ 100 mm)
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 Conventional White Topping (CWT)
 A PCC overlay of thickness 200mm or more.
 It is constructed as a new rigid pavement without assuming
any composite action.
 CWT treats the existing bituminous surface as a sub-base.
 Bituminous surface should not suffer from any isolated
damages like subsidence or material related problems.

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 Thin White Topping (TWT)
 PCC overlay thickness greater than 100mm and less than
200mm is known as Thin White Topping(TWT).
 The bond between the overlaid PCC and underlying
bituminous layer is often a consideration but not mandatory.
 High strength concrete is commonly used.
 Joint spacing – 0.6 to 1.25m.

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 Ultra Thin White topping
 PCC overlay Thickness equal to less than 100 mm is known as
Ultra Thin White Topping(UTWT).
 Bonding is mandatory in between the underlying bituminous
layer and overlaid PCC layer.
 Bonding is achieved by milling the existing bituminous surface
upto 25mm depth.
 Joint Spacing – 0.6 to 1.25 m.

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CONVENTIONAL WHITE TOPPING/ THIN WHITE
TOPPING

• Localized areas of weakness can be strengthened through patching. Milling

can remove a number of asphalt surfaces distresses. 8
TWT Overlays Application UTWT Overlays Application
More Heavy Loaded Routes Light Loaded Routes
1. Rural Roads
1. Low Volume Roads (Urban
2. Medium to Moderately Streets, village roads)
Heavy Volume Roads. 2. Parking lots
3. Intersections 3. Footpaths
4. Minor Airports Pavements 4. Residential Streets
5. Intersection

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 Location where UTWT/TWT Constructed in India
Sr. Location, Year & Thickness App. Length and sub-base Materials, Grade
No of Concrete

1 In Front of Pune Municipal Corporation, 20 m over asphalt pavement FRC

2003, 125mm M40
2 CRRI Campus road,2004, 40-75mm 300m over asphalt, DLC and FRC,HPC,
New Delhi Concrete pavement HPFRC M 35
3 MoolChand and PremBari Underpass , 500m over reinforced concrete FRC, M40 using
2006, 125 mm, slab portland slag
New Delhi cement

4 HRDC Centre, Ghaziabad, 2006, 50 mm 1.75 km over M 7.5 DLC laid HPFRC, M35
over asphalt pavement

5 NDMC Office Campus road at 200m over asphalt pavement FRC, M35
parliament street,2006,
100 mm

6 Hosur Road, Bangalore, 2011, 150 Over bituminous pavement M45

mm

7 Mahul Road, Mumbai,100mm, 30-50m over milled asphalt HPFRC, M50

2006-07 surface 10
 MIX DESIGN

1. Typical higher cement content

2. Fast track type construction
3. Low water/cement ratio
4. Steel fibers/Synthetic
5. Creates Durable concrete, quick to opening to traffic

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 CONSTRUCTION STEPS

1. Mill and clean surface.

2. Place the concrete.
3. Finishing, texturing and
curing.
4. Joint sawing.
5. Opening to traffic.

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 MILLING
Milling can remove significant surface distortions that likely contain
poor quality asphalt material. Milling roughens the surface to enhance
the bond between the new concrete overlay and the asphalt.

MILLING IN PROGRESS

MILLED & CLEANED SURFACE

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 CLEANING OF SURFACE

1. Air blasting/vacuum cleaner

2. Power brooming
3. Water blasting
4. Sand blasting

SCRAPING IN PROGRESS

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CLEANING OF SCRAPED SURFACE
 PLACING
1. Enough asphalt should be there to form composite section.
2. Conventional slip-form and flexible form pavers are shown.
3. A small equipment-such as vibrating screeds have been used.

PAVING WITH SLIPFORM PAVER

PAVING WITH VIBRATING SCREED

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 FINISHING , TEXTURING AND CURING
Texturing of the finished Ultra-Thin White Topping pavement surface
is required to provide adequate surface friction of the roadway.
Surface friction is provided by carpet drag or brooming, which also
reduces noise as shown in figure

FINISHING & TEXTURING

CURING COMPOUND SPRAY

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 JOINT SAWING
1. Sawing is critical to avoid random cracking in white topping.
2. Partial depth saw cutting operations should commence immediately
after the concrete has gained enough strength to prevent ravelling and
spalling of the joint.

JOINT SAWING

SAWING DEPTH H/3 TO H/4

 COST COMPARISON
BITUMEN OVERLAY Vs. WHITE TOPPING
(Cost of 1 km Road 7 m wide)
No TYPE OF DESIGN SPECIFICATION TOTAL COST
PAVEMENT REFERENCE COST per sq. m
(Lakhs)
1. Bitumen IRC-37 DBM 65mm Rs.62.1 Rs. 890
overlay BC 50mm
2 White IRC-76 Milling / Scrapping Rs. 79.53 Rs. 1150
Toppings Profile correction 40 mm
Concrete 150 mm-M 45 (RMC
Laying with paver machine
and groove cutting with
diamond blade machine)

Note: In case of white topping, the cost is taken if concrete is purchased from
RMC plant. If contractor has his own batching plant, a saving of Rs. 50 per
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sq meter can be achieved
 Advantages of White Topping

1. Long life, low maintenance, low life cycle cost, improved

safety and environmental benefits

2. Bituminous overlay exhibits a more rapid loss of serviceability

as compared to concrete white topping

3. Deformation like rutting and cracking predominant in case of

bituminous pavement which is normally absent with concrete
surfaces of white topping

4. White Topping exhibits better reflectance, reduction in heat

island effect (Albedo), reduction in street light requirements.

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 Disadvantages of White Topping

1. Higher initial cost.

2. Quality is mainly depend on the process.

3. Drying too quickly leads to cracking.

4. Difficult to repair.

5. Concrete roads do not facilitate ground water absorption.

6. Road grip and safety, due to dust sand small particulate tend to
make concrete surface more slippery.
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 CASE STUDY : Demonstration Project of TWT.
Pune city has adopted the thin white topping (TWT) treatment
for internal roads as well as wider roads with high traffic volume.

Started in 2008 pune city has constructed above 75 to 80 km of

roads with TWT technology. The road caters to traffic of above 5000
buses.
M40 grade concrete was used

w/c ratio were kept at 0.37

Total project cost was Rs.7.24 Cr

TWT ovwrlay,125mm thick.

 SUMMARY

White topping has emerged as a fast growing technology for

pavement rehabilitation

Ultra thin white topping develops the required strength for opening
to traffic in as little as 24 hours

Positive impact on reducing CO2 emissions resulting from the

manufacturing and placement of paving materials

Based on advantages and lesser maintenance cost of white topping

it could be concluded that rehabilitation of an asphalt pavement by
white topping is a viable and sustainable technique.
 REFERENCES
1. 1.Mitesh D. Patel, Prof. P.S. Ramanuj, Bhavin Parmar, Akash
Parmar, “White topping as a rehabilitation method”: a case study of
budhel-ghogha road. IJAERS/Vol. I/ Issue IV/ July-Sept., 2012/31-
35 E-ISSN2249 – 8974.

2. 2.Dr. V. Ramachandra,”WHITETOPPING – A Viable & Sustainable

Option for Rehabilitation of Urban Roads”

3. 3.IRC: SP: 76 – 2008 “Tentative guidelines for conventional, thin

and ultra-thin whitetopping,” Indian Road Congress, New Delhi,
2008.

4. 6.IRC: SP-76 (2008). “Tentative Guidelines for Conventional, Thin

and Ultra-Thin Whitetopping.” Indian Road Congress, New Delhi.
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THANK
YOU24