Professional Documents
Culture Documents
BY J. E. CHADWICK, JR.*
MINIMUM PERSONNEL REQUIRED Continued slab pumping washes out subgrade, leaves slab
The minimum crew required to mud-jack consists of: improperly supported. Unsupported concrete pavement
A foreman quickly breaks up under impacts of heavy axle loads.
A jack hammer operator
A mud-jack operator paint in the form of a 1- to 1 1/2-inch dot. When the hole
A nozzle operator is drilled, the paint will be displaced, leaving the surface
free of any marks except the hole.
A laborer (feeder man) The jack-hammer operator, usually working by him-
A laborer (clean-up man) self, moves the truck and compressor, services and oper-
A truck driver (helps load dirt trucks) ates the compressor and drills the holes. It may be ad-
vantageous to provide this operator with a helper, if
A laborer in soil pit traffic is heavy or the sight distance restricted, to act as
A flagman flagman and move the equipment as the drilling pro-
gresses.
THE MUD-JACK TREATMENT PROCEDURE The mud-jack crew pumps the slurry under the pave-
The foreman is trained by the maintenance superin- ment until it begins to rise. Complete filling of all the
tendent to understand the mechanics of slab pumping voids is very important. In sections where there has been
and how to analyze each joint and crack so that the nec- no settlement or faulting, pumping is stopped just as
essary holes may be located for the jack hammer opera- soon as there is the first indication of rising.
tor. The holes should be indicated on the pavement with The nozzle operator can detect the slightest rise by
placing his fingers in the joint or crack or by placing a
thin mud pat across the joint or crack. It will show a
slight hair check when the pavement begins to rise.
In sections where there is faulting at the cracks or
joints or where settlements have resulted, the pumping
procedure should be continued until the desired lift is
reached. If the work is in preparation for resurfacing it is
not necessary that all irregularities in the old surface be
removed, but there should be a slight indication of lifting
to insure the proper filling of all the voids.
When sufficient slurry mixture has been pumped, the
nozzle operator signals the operator who stops the mud-
jack pumping. The nozzle operator then closes the valve
at the end of the hose and pulls the nozzle from the hole.
He inserts a tapered wooden peg to retain the pressure
and stop the flowing back of the mixture until the clean-
up man is ready to permanently plug the hole.
The clean-up man pulls the tapered wooden peg,
tamps in dry soil and cement until the hole is complete-
Two-inch 5-ply hose is carried on dollies. Tapered steel
nozzle is used to pump slurry mixture through 1l2-inch holes. ly plugged. The moisture from the mixture will seep
through the soil-cement plug and cause it to harden. The
clean-up man passes his shoe over the plug, which pro-
vides a hard glazed finish when the plug is hardened.
This will provide a surface that will not be readily dis-
placed by tires of the vehicles passing over it.
If the pavement surface is to be resurfaced within a
few weeks or months, the cracks and joints should not
be sealed where the slurry mixture has been forced to
the surface through them. The bituminous material
used for this purpose would not have sufficient time to
cure and would therefore bleed through the new surface.
If the pavement is to be carried over to the following
season before resurfacing or is to remain as originally
constructed, the joints and cracks should be cleaned and
completely sealed with a satisfactory material. The holes
drilled for filling the voids should likewise be cleaned to
a depth of 1 to 2 inches and filled with a dense graded bi-
tuminous mixture and thoroughly compacted.
Two-inch quick opening valve enables nozzle operator to COST OF THE MUD-JACK TREATMENT
stop leakage of slurry mixture when nozzle is moved from The cost of this operation will vary as wage scales vary.
hole to hole.
Mud-jack crew at work treating joints on highway. Equipment includes water truck, mud-jack, material truck.
In one state in 1944 where 9,455 cubic yards of soil was ment, the location of the holes as shown in Fig. 3 is rec-
pumped, using 37,820 bags of cement, the cost was ap- ommended. In either case, each joint or crack should be
proximately $9.28 per cubic yard. A breakdown of this analyzed and the number of holes drilled which provide
cost shows the following data: the maximum benefit.
Average Cost When treating a four-corner break, such as shown in
per Cu. Yd. Fig. 1, it has been found possible to completely treat the
Labor $4.24 area that has failed using one hole. However, a few extra
holes drilled in other corners will soon show if full cover-
Equipment rental 2.12
age is being obtained by the slurry mixture.
Materials 2.09
Equipment repairs .08 MIXTURE MATERIAL REQUIREMENTS
Either a sandy loam or a loam top soil are best adapt-
Supplies and small tools .33
ed for this mixture. Soils containing high percentages of
Overhead expense (subsistence) .42 clay should be avoided if possible because they are hard
$9.28 to mix, require more water to produce the desired con-
As stated previously, the quantities required to com- sistency and provide a poor permanent support for the
pletely fill the voids under the pavement vary according pavement after they have been mixed into a thin slurry.
to the age of the pavement, character of the soil, and vol- A soil approaching the grain size accumulation curve as
ume of the traffic, ranging from 15 cubic yards to 100 shown in Fig. 4 will be satisfactory for this mixture. In
cubic yards per mile. some localities, if soil having these characteristics is not
available, it may be possible to blend a suitable soil and
SIZE AND LOCATION OF HOLES sand or it may be necessary to ship in a desirable soil.
The size of hole used for this treatment is 1 _ inches in The use of too much sand in some mud-jacks will induce
diameter. A hole of this size is sufficient to pump the wear in the bearings on the pug mill shaft as well as the
slurry mixture through the pavement to the subgrade. rubber tread ring on the pistons.
The holes are spaced 12 inches from the center line It will often be necessary to screen the soil through a
and 12 inches beyond the transverse joint or crack in 1/2- or 5/8-inch mesh screen, except where the soil is
the direction of traffic. When treating a transverse joint, free from hard lumps, stones, sticks and grass roots. This
it is recommended to use two holes in diagonal corners. not only makes it much easier to mix and pump, but
When treating a transverse crack, one hole is usually suf- when material containing any amount of stone is used
ficient to treat the entire width of a two-lane highway. If the narrow openings between the slab and the support-
outside holes are needed to fill the voids or raise a fault- ing grade are clogged, causing the formation of voids
ed joint, then they are placed 30 inches from the edge of and in many cases completely clogging the hole through
the pavement and 30 inches beyond the crack or joint in which the mud is being forced, stopping the pump.
the direction of traffic. This is shown graphically in Fig. 2. It is desirable to have a mixture that will set as rapidly
When performing the treatment on a multilane pave- as possible so as not to be disturbed by traffic. Therefore,
LOCATION OF HOLES FOR 4 sacks of regular cement per cubic yard of selected soil
MUD-JACK TREATMENT has been determined in the laboratory as being the
TYPICAL FOUR CORNER FAILURE proper amount to give the best results. This is approxi-
ONE HOLE USUALLY SUFFICIENT IF SLAB IS TIGHT mately 20 percent cement by weight of the soil.
The addition of emulsified asphalt may be desirable to
increase the durability of the mixture. In this event the
cement content should be reduced to 12 percent with
12 percent emulsified asphalt added. Some states have
used SC asphalts, when they are available, with very
good success, instead of emulsified asphalt.
The voids under the pavement are very irregular in
depth and therefore the shrinkage which would develop
if soil and water alone were used would be detrimental
in that a uniform support would not be provided for the
pavement. The addition of the cement not only reduces
the shrinkage of the mixture but causes the soil mixture
to set in a short time.
The consistency of the mixture is obtained by adding
45 to 55 percent water. The amount of water will vary de-
pending on the moisture content of the soil as received
from the borrow pit. The mixture is often referred to as a
slurry mixture because it is very thin and flows uniform-
ly under the pavement to fill minute voids. It is compa-
rable to the consistency of cream.
LOCATION OF HOLES
TWO LANE PAVEMENT
FIGURE 2
PUBLICATION #C620227
Copyright 1962, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved