Types of Pavement Deterioration

Rutting in pavement

There are several types of deformations that can occur on the surface of the pavement due to weakness in one of the layers. The main four types of deformations that you may see on the roads are: Rutting, Corrugations, Shoving, Depressions and Swells.

Rutting occurs in heavy traffic areas. The rutting follows the tire lines of cars.  It is caused by displacement of asphalt material as the cars drive over them. Ruts begin to appear over weakened areas. These areas can hold water. Rutting can occur in the subgrade, subbase or on the top layer, depending on where the weakness is.

Corrugations occur in areas where heavy acceleration or deceleration happens. It is important to get asphalt with the correct mixture suitable for the paving job. Corrugations occurs when there is too much cement or too much small aggregates. It resembles ripples and is often known as washboarding.
Shoving is the movement of the pavement similar to corrugations where there is a bulging of the pavements. These bulging often occurs in areas where there are heavy amounts of acceleration or deceleration as they cause the moving of the asphalt aggregates.

Depressions occur when there is a movement in the base layer, underneath the asphalt pavement. When shifts occur the pavement also becomes depressed. Eventually these depressions will result in potholes that become dangerous for motorists.

These are the main types of deformations that you might see on the road. Most of these deformations happen in heavy traffic areas where there are a lot of cars that cause these deformations. Constructing the asphalt pavement in the correct manner with the right mixture of aggregates at the right temperature will help to mitigate some of these effects. If you are experiencing some of these issues on your road be sure to reach out to an experienced asphalt paving contractor that can correctly assess and determine the causes of these deformation and provide the right solution to repair your road.