Premature Deterioration of Concrete

RJ Lee Group was retained to investigate the root cause of premature deterioration of a concrete runway pavement at one of the world’s busiest airports - LAX. Designed to last for 40 years, the runway surface was experiencing multiple forms of distress after less than six years of service, including popouts, spalls, and cracking. Popouts and spalls create an increased risk of foreign object debris (FOD) damage to aircraft engines, and thus are substantially greater safety concern than for non-airfield pavements. 

RJLG concrete materials experts led an investigative team that included airfield pavement engineers and mechanical modeling experts.  We performed on-site pavement condition assessments, developed a coring and testing plan, and performed an extensive materials evaluation of over 200 concrete cores for petrographic, chemical, and physical testing. Our investigation also included a review of thousands of pages of design and construction records.  A combination of sophisticated modeling and state-of-the-art forensics was used to determine the root cause of failure, provide critical information for subsequent repair design, and improve processes for future paving projects.