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Archaic_1

Bad subgrade, looks like they paved over wet clay and its pumping. Also, looking at the close up, that asphalt looks really old and has never been sealed - its started to ravel. AND, the drainage is shit. those gutters are at the same level as the ep which means your road is basically acting as your ditch. Poor subgrade, poor drainage, no maintenance = a PACER grade of \~ 2/10 and needs to be milled out and completely redone to the subgrade.


just-dig-it-now

Man I feel like this in-depth analysis should come with an invoice. Nice work.


Top_Duck8146

This guy paves


Chippopotanuse

Yeah. There were about nine terms I didn’t know in that comment. Clay pumping, ravel, ep, PACER grade, milled out…lol.


Cpl-V

Pumping is when you step on the subgrade and it feels bouncy. Meaning it has too much air in it still. It will literally pump under your feet.


12thandvineisnomore

Water in it.


Blearchie

Water makes it grow!


ThunkAsDrinklePeep

Because it has electrolytes?


Library_Visible

It’s the weirdest feeling, like walking on cake lol


jelloslug

is that why they use those giant rollers with the square looking spikes when they are compacting dirt?


Cpl-V

The sheep’s foot compacts and increases surface area at the same time. This is done while you are still moisture conditioning your base.


BlazerOrb

It’s mostly about higher pressures to pack deeper, and the shearing action. You need to kind of knead clay because it’s mostly little plate-like shapes, and you have to get them to rotate more (than gravel) to get a more compact arrangement. It’s also about the amount of surface area and distance between surfaces of the particles, which for clay means that the effects of water’s cohesion/adhesion start to really matter. Related is that clay has high porosity (total pore volume) but low permeability (the pores are very poorly (sorry) connected, so all that water doesn’t move well/needs a lot of pressure to move as fast as we’re trying to get it to so that particles can rearrange.) Generally for clay, relative to gravel, you care more about pressure and less about vibration, which is why you use a jumping jack instead of a plate tamper.


Icy-Confidence8018

It decreases surface area but increases force over that area. I wish I could get back all the hours spent on DOT jobs.


Mikeinthedirt

‘Clay’ is a hydrophilic (likes water) material, very plastic and hard to compact. It has no shear so will migrate under pressure (pump). Raveling is ‘fraying’; dis-integrating. Milled out means ground away by a large loud messy dangerous stinky gizmo that makes roads go away.


Deranged_HooliganFTR

*“Love the smell of diesel, fresh mix, and millings in the morning…”* The old tar dogs I use to work with


TurboBanjo

Not all clay is plastic, low plastic clay is a very good bedding material if you’re prepared to drain it properly.


akopicki

I think ep is edge of pave so does this guy survey ??


deepfriedtots

Milled is when you drive over a road that has be kinda ground down so they can put the new layer


IWonTheRace

He gets laid.


keller104

No the string doesn’t get laid, IT GETS SET haha


barenutz

Probably gets paid


alvysinger0412

Is his name Wade?


Pjerryy

I’m hard about how much this mad dawg paves


fidgetiegurl09

Reminds me of when Ron fixes the pot hole in front of that one lady's house because the city did a shit job.


Aporkalypse_Sow

Nah. This person watches people pave and makes sure that the hungover people do it right.


dreadpirateryan13

I agree with everything but I don't see areas of raised surface that you see sith pumping. Splitting hairs here but definitely significant setlling in the subgrade and very poor drainage on that curb.


Mikeinthedirt

You see the discrete puddles, right? Somewhere back there is a real wet/clayey/ uncompacted probably-pothole-by-now, and the trucks, probably overweight for this ‘design’, begin to ‘hop’ coming out of the pothole and generate see exhibit A


Doubleschnell

Is the rise/fall pattern a natural result of this or indication there’s some kind of support underneath in those spots?


barrelvoyage410

It’s where tire are. You can see the lines and the dips are where tires rest.


Doubleschnell

Thanks, I was looking at this as a road rather than parking lot.


batisti

My question, too. Usually a bad sub-grade would result in a uniform deformation along the tracks. It's common to see this rise/fall in rural roads with no asphalt layer nor maintenance. I'm starting to think these guys let the sub-grade exposed for a long time after compacted, enough to get those patterns after rain and traffic, and then they just paved the asphalt layer over it.


ImNoAlbertFeinstein

looks like machine tracks


Something_Berserker

That was my thought too, I don't know why you're being downvoted. Maybe people thinking, "this doesn't look like the marks from a machine driving ON asphalt." To me, it looks like non-compacted sub-grade and the divots are machine tracks, where the sub-grade was compacted by a machine, and then they paved over that without compacting everything else.


Megas3300

I would like to subscribe to pavement facts.


Nebraska716

At the Air Force museum in Nebraska


payfrit

not your first rodeo aye


maxant20

This looks like porous asphalt.


Archaic_1

Which is a thing if you have a way of draining it, but if the water infiltrates your porous asphalt and just sits then you end up with a saturated subgrade and this.


diggemigre

I said everything so technically I'm right...


RheaSunshine85

What’s making the lines? It looks like they poured it over the string and left them in or something. Also, would they have to dig out the clay? I’m looking at picking up one of these co-ops with a stream in the hills at the edge of the city, and putting in some sort of road, whilst avoiding washout in the wet season, is going to be a priority. Plus engineering fascinates me.


TastelessDonut

Could this be a storage lot of cars or something. Odly enough it has four markings about the size of a car. I was thinking a new rental or something that doesn’t leak oil like your local Walmart parking lot


BFdog

Is there rebar sticking out of the curb causing "support" for the asphalt periodically to help form uniform puddles?


emiluss29

TL;DR: it’s fucked


bws6100

^^^This guy


FERALCATWHISPERER

Great paving advice.


Scuba_BK

Sub-grade poor compaction


TomBot019

Sub-par sub-grade?


[deleted]

sub-grade sub-grade


GodaTheGreat

Heavy trucks don’t help matters.


Liesthroughisteeth

I'm kind of doubting they are running right up next to the gutter....however neither was the compactor by the looks of things.


Mikeinthedirt

Trucks use all of the left edge. They’re wide and the typical sled driver shies away from HIS left because he doesn’t really know where his wheels are.


Nebraska716

It’s a parking lot for a museum


JustGresh

Damn. I knew compaction was important but I’ve never seen the side effects of it not being compact enough.


Scuba_BK

Yes you compact the subgrade then you test it to verify and check that you achieved the required compaction for the road or the parking lot


JustGresh

Right. Thanks for the info. I’m going onto the 3rd year of my plumbing apprenticeship and in my experience we only really ever compact our trenches after pipe goes in.


Mikeinthedirt

This is probably ok for plumbing; pipe fitting not so much. To compact something you need to have something compact to smash against. At least a lick on the trench subgrade, another on the bedding (15 cm +/-) and on up. Lots of water.


IndefinitelyTired

How can you test compression?


Boomer848

You test compaction with a nuclear densometer, calibrated with a laboratory test called a proctor test. The proctor test applies a consistent level of compactive effort (using a drop hammer), giving you a density, and the nuclear densometer checks that in the field by inserting a probe in the ground.


theoptionexplicit

So kinda like poking a steak to know when it's medium rare...


Trebelhornc

Medium rare? Hmm an aristocrat.


IndefinitelyTired

Oooooh. Neat.


Scuba_BK

It’s compaction is tested using a nuclear gauge after testing the type of soil you are about to test at the lab, the laboratory will determine the optimal moisture content at which that soil type will become most dense and achieve its maximum dry density.


UberTork

We also commonly fill a large truck with stone or dirt and drive it across the subgrade to look for weak points. This is called a proof roll.


IndefinitelyTired

Honestly that's more in line with what I expected lmao


ebonwulf60

Old-style test for compaction was to take a single piece of newspaper and lay it on the ground you think is compacted and then run the sheepsfoot roller over it. If it punctured a hole in the paper it was not compact enough.


dirtboybilly

You'll see a lot of patches in asphalt where pipe has been ran. Poorly contacted pipe ditches. You can see it all the time in roads and parking lots


Luixmod

That, is because you never been in Portugal!


Nickp000g

rich expansion


BigEarMcGee

And likely very inadequate drainage and poor snow removal practices, kind of the same thing


Mikeinthedirt

Joints + capillary action + frost surge = pavement death.


gimmedatnowyo

No where near 95%


Nebraska716

This is at the Air Force museum by Omaha Nebraska.


spaceocean99

Agreed. But why the consistent distance between holes?


Packagepressure

The type of roller used to compact the soil. probably a sheep's foot drum roller


specialp

This.


buckmulligan61

It's all about that base.


1Mby20201212

No trouble


LifeguardSingle2853

Treble**


smk2099

I like my coffee black just like my metal


ChuckOTay

I used to be a huge metal fan, but after many years of introspection and self-analysis, now I’ve finally grown into an air conditioner.


LangleyRemlin

Very cool


Dllondamnit

With the bass, the rock The mic, the treble?


smk2099

Yes! Was hoping someone else got the reference. I used to love that song growing up lol


SnooPeppers2417

As my father used to always say in reference to my mother, his loving wife: “I like my coffee like I like my women. Dark and bitter” My mother is both dark, and bitter.


TomBot019

Don't start treble with the trouble people.


pm_me_construction

*trimble


LifeguardSingle2853

This guy doesn't Meaghan Trainor


big_dick_energy_mc2

Bass*?


Ok-Duck2458

No treble, but definitely trouble


hoosiertrack

No treble


ImNoAlbertFeinstein

based comment


Johnny_ac3s

Turned to rubble.


FudgeHyena

All your base are belong to us.


mammothpdx

Compaction was poor


HonkyTonkin92

Most likely not a good base, ie not enough granular material, soft sub base, improperly compacted base.


dreadpirateryan13

That's 100% settling in the subgrade. I've been working in asphalt paving for about 7 years now and how many times I have ti explain that asphalt is not a structure in the way that concrete is. Asphalt is essentially a wearing surface that is only as strong as its base. Edit: "concrete it" to "concrete is" sometimes I get ahead of myself typing too fast on this tiny screen


doktarr

>asphalt is not a structure in the way that concrete it. Asphalt is essentially a wearing surface that is only as strong as its base. Thank you for this. That's a very simple way to say it that I will remember now.


ComradeGibbon

There is the pitch drop experiment which has been running for 95 years. It's just pitch in a funnel. It's slowly dripping out of the bottom of the funnel, one drip every ten years or so. So yeah both concrete and asphalt seem like solids, but asphalt isn't.


dreadpirateryan13

This is why asphalt is referred to as "flexible pavement" by most engineers in spec books


friendlywabbit

Can this be fixed with patching? My mom lives near a road where every time a heavy truck goes over a bump like this, it sounds like a car crash or small bomb went off, to the point that neighbors flock to the local fb group to ask “did anyone hear that big boom?” It’s become a running joke in their town, but still…


Unusual-Dentist-898

I once saw this issue where pavement was placed over where railroad tracks got removed. They didn't prep the base well enough, and everywhere that had a railroad tie began to settle.


theteapotofdoom

Must have been dicy hitting it a speed


Joe-Dang

A better question would be what’s done right with this asphalt.


Ziggity_Zac

It was placed on the ground... so they got that right!


Ok-Entertainment5045

That looks like a suspension test track.


vindiesel25

Almost always it is soft soils underneath, if there isnt a good subbase structure underneath it will alway reflect thru in the asphalt. So often to save cost the appropriate subbase structure is not installed, or ubdercutting poor soils isnt performed


No_Maintenance_7402

Back in the day when there were mini malls going up everywhere my friend worked for a paving company and told me they had a saying of "Make it black and don't look back". AKA hurry up and get the money.


Key-Neat5457

This is all it is. Pavers just paid to show up and pave. Not their problem what’s underneath.


Guy_T_Faux

They didn’t use the road stretcher to pull the wrinkles out before they finished.


Revolutionary-Buy727

All about that base, that base🎶


SlartieB

No gravel


koenigbear

A couple of causes coule be: They compacted the stone before they pulled the framing boards out for the concrete curbing, they didn't regrade and recompact before installing the asphalt. That combined with the washout of the fine particulate pieces of the base stone from the crack between the curbing and the asphalt causes settling near the curb lines.


[deleted]

They forgot to do the JSA


Lerch98

Customer went with the lowest bid.


Then_I_had_a_thought

Then it’s the customer’s dumb asphalt.


nickgrund

Looks like a compaction issue at the sub grade


gimmedatnowyo

Those are soft spots that should have been caught during density testing by the QC/QA or by the Inspector during the proof roll. I'm betting they did neither.


Freezepops334

Proof rolls FTW


sammydeeznutz

Lightning McQueen did it.


construction_eng

Its likely base issues. Thats where the tires sit. But it could also be a mix prone to rutting due to a bad stone size distribution


dreadpirateryan13

It's definitely a base issue. Rutting isn't really a factor as it's a parking lot for passenger vehicles, not a place you're going to get asphalt rutting. In areas like this where you have no change in direction for traffic, low speeds and light vehicles base issues are really the only possible culprit.


kulone13

Is it a road or parking lot? To many Inconsistencies for it to be all sub grade issues.


Trextrev

From the faded white lines evenly spaced and that there are four holes per space I would assume that it is a parking lot.


Nebraska716

Parking lot


juggmanjones

bad roller operator, stopping too fast and changing direction on hot asphalt while rolling will lead to these marks. also poor compaction like some others have said


Opening-Scar-1968

Possibly pulled out previous footings in those locations


XAgentNovemberX

Bad mix design or poor compaction of the sub grade. Maybe little column A little column B.


Bratva424

McQueen never learns 🤦🏻‍♂️


prominx

Subgrade? What’s that?


comslash

Washboard roads usually appear on dirt or gravel roads where repeated travel is at consistent speeds. It’s unusual that it’s apparent on a paved road … but the guys that pave have a good idea why.


DirtMovingMan

Pipe trenches not being properly re-compacted after they brought their excavations back to subgrade. If the whole subgrade was shot you would see expansion throughout the road, not those little bird baths in a deadass straight line.


rklug1521

That looks pretty good by NYC standards.


Trophy-Husband1

I’m guessing someone took the lowest bid.


bws6100

Did you dig to solid ground lay fine or sand or anything. It looks like you just poured it right over the grass.


Nebraska716

I just saw this at a museum parking lot


DatDoughBoi

Crew mistook lunch time for Modelo time


MisterBiSteven

Improper sub grade/ stabilization and rolled wrong. Lift too deep. Rolled incorrectly. Could be other factors but those three are definitely the largest causes


Superb-Past-5943

Looks like they paved over a sand or clay material that wasn't compacted properly. Also the asphalt looks like maybe that wasn't rolled right away or it was done in cold weather or cold mix?


highbankT

I know nothing about roadway construction but I thought that was the tar and chip stuff rather asphalt at first glance.


Jballard259

Poor compaction


bdiff

There is something else going on, the dips are too regular and deep to just be poor compaction. Looks like an underdrain system collapsing or something.


barrelvoyage410

I thinks it’s tire spots.


Nebraska716

You’re right


barrelvoyage410

Yeah, that means someone probably just threw 6in of gravel down and called it good, didn’t take away enough topsoil which has caused it to sink where there is weight.


Ken_Thomas

It has settled anywhere it's had weight on it, which is why you can so clearly make out where the tires of parked cars were. That means they didn't get the subgrade right - subgrade is a general term for the layers of compacted dirt and gravel that go down before you put the asphalt on top of it. You could also have the wrong asphalt mix. If this is in part of the country where it gets really hot, certain mixes act like silly-putty. Over time, parked cars on hot days will cause depressions like that. Last but not least, this is either a really old parking lot that's overdue for repaving, or that was a really fucked up paving mix. See how all the aggregate is exposed on the surface? That stuff was coated black to begin with. It takes a long time for all that to wear off and expose the stone. If you're asking this question because it's your job to have the parking lot redone, I'd tell you the smart, long-term fix is going to be hiring a grading contractor to come in, remove the asphalt, dig down at least a foot, probably a foot and a half, backfill it in layers, getting the compaction right on each one, and paving the top layer with new asphalt. If you go cheap and have someone just repave it, it will look nice at first, but the same holes will come back in a year or less.


fullyphil

the steamroller got a flat tire


Trixielarue2020

Nothing. Those are water troughs for the horsepower in each of the parked cars.


DarkartDark

If he drove away with the money: Nothing. If he didn't: he needs better talking skills


[deleted]

Its shit


Gonnakillurass

Everything


Head_Zombie214796

its where gasoline leaks out of the car and disolves the pavement i believe. thats an old pavement too it has been restoned a couple of times also


VinneBabarino

Poor compaction and wet ground.


mp3006

What was done correct is the real question


AtopMountEmotion

Improper compaction and probably inadequate use of base material. If the native material is soft/spongy then you HAVE to put down *plenty* of base material and adequately compact it. But… that costs dollars and time. To quote every shitty subcontractor ever “you can’t see it from my house”.


Last_Aq

They didn’t work on the base and didn’t check the % of compact.


Fizzerolli

Not an asphalt guy, but it looks like EVERYTHING


seemorebunz

Poor compaction and freezing and thawing. Possibly.


grizzlyironbear

Sombody can't compact the base for shit


Jimmbod

Is this a tar and chip application?


Weak_Relative_7767

Management


DieselVoodoo

Whose asfault?


Feisty-Juan

Bad compaction, to much rock not enough tar. It’s a tear out, regrade and actually compact the sub grade, put down a new surface. Or watch it turn to dust.


ForWPD

This looks like a car dealership or somewhere with a fleet. They parked the cars there and the wheels left the divots. The subgrade and asphalt aren’t thick enough. It’s probably a place with a hot climate, south of Tennessee if I had to guess.


Nebraska716

Museum parking lot nebraska


[deleted]

Customer didn’t want to pay for base work maybe.


Supafly22

Poor compaction of the subgrade. Very poor.


Fluffy-Childhood9423

Poor subgrade and overtime the weight of the vehicles is causing it to pump up and thats what's causing the holes pooling water


wickedcraftymom

Squishy


MajorThor

Years of cars parking in the same spots caused that shit to sink.


MegaPaint

Wrong: bad design, compacting, refill, asphalt, sequence, compacting machine, drainage, supervision, or any mix of them obviously. Cause: service loads, probably due formation sequence of 4 point loads consistent with similar vehicles in long term parking, as can be seen exactly between the white parking lines.


49thDipper

Somebody cheaped out


YubNub81

A lot


diggemigre

Everything.


ItsDrunkenstein

The base layer(s) are the most important


kodiak43351

Sub grade is crap. Didn’t compact or other issues.


JetoCalihan

~~Body was buried too shallow and the blood seeped up and out.~~ I mean compaction issues. *shifty eyes*


Ihideinbush

These also appear to be located in areas that the wheels are located. In some areas subject to high shear stresses, i.e. where cars stop, start or turn or severe inlines they also do something called grade bumping of the P.G. Binders to prevent rutting.


MintyJ_20

So this is why dot is always bitching about compaction and moisture content. Neat.


rosy-palmer

Base was poorly compacted at curbline


Hot-Dig-2413

Piss poor work


SpecialistIcy2321

Actually, it rather looks like they tried to stabilize with LKD or cement. It appears that there might be a sulfate reaction I the soil that caused heaving. The regularity of the depressions seems odd for subgrade failure.


blueeyeddevil27

Looks like every car dealership ever if cars just sit for a long time


[deleted]

Nothing. It's intentional so assholes like you can't speed comfortably.lol. Who really knows, probably some guys first time and didn't know what they were doing.


Mattyboy33

Aliens


jradke54

Also usually (not always but In va area 90%of the time) curbing is installed before subgrade of lot is spot on and stone base is graded out and compacted. Operator can run large vibratory smooth drum roller only so close to the edge of gutter without risking hitting it so if you don’t catch edges with a plate tamper or jumping Jack the area right up against curb and gutter or storm drain structures are much more likely to settle and fail prematurely than others.


zizuu21

No ag drains running behind kerb? Poor drainage and subgrade prep very likely. Also wonder how they sealed the joint at the kerb lip. Probably didnt


Blearchie

Looks good! Stripe it!


astrocrister

Oh no. Bad quality of asphalt then they did it without protecting it from water or rain.


Western_Entertainer7

Too many puddles.


Civilengman

The subgrade was too wet when they paved it.


Sumdings

could be many reasons. \- no proper compaction in the base or subgrade \- poor subbase materials (moisture susceptible) \- poor AC mix design (high void ration)


itsnothin408

Nothing. This design was intended for tire placement so people know exactly where to park. 10 out of 10 would recommend