Experimental and Numerical Evaluations on the Shape Factor of Silicone Sealant for Concrete Pavements under Vertical Loading

Abstract

Silicones have been used on a large scale as sealant materials for pavement joints. Besides the fundamental advantages of sealants, several problems remain concerning failures such as fall-down, material failure, and adhesive problems due to repeated traffic loading and the contractive or expansive issues of concrete slabs. One of the most important components of sealants is the shape factor, which is defined as the ratio of sealant thickness to concrete pavement joint width. From a field survey, fall-down failures constitute 53% of all failures, and adhesive problems constitute 33%. Based on the results of testing the vertical resistant stiffness and shape factor of sealants with 6.0- and 8.0-mm joint widths, the optimized shape factor is suggested as 1.0. The finite-element method (FEM), which was used to confirm the experimental results, supports the experimental results.