Crack sealing is one of the most commonly used methods to preserve asphalt pavements. However, quantification of crack sealing benefits (or the long-term delaying effects of crack sealing on crack propagation) remains unavailable because field crack lengths could not be measured accurately and efficiently. In this study, 3D laser technology is proposed to measure and compare the growth of crack lengths between sealed and non-sealed pavement sections and, for the first time, to accurately and efficiently quantify the crack sealing benefits. To validate the proposed method and find adequate treatment timing (or conditions), nine field sites in Georgia, U.S., with different pavement pre-treatment conditions and roadway environmental factors were monitored over 3 years from December 2016 to September 2019. The study results showed that crack sealing can retard crack growth by 40%–128%, and such delaying effects are more significant under better pavement pre-treatment conditions. The findings suggest that transportation agencies can prolong the service life of pavements by applying crack sealing before the pavement condition becomes poor. In addition, this work has been proved to be very valuable for transportation agencies to determine the best timing and treatment criteria for crack sealing.

裂缝密封是保护沥青路面最常用的方法之一。然而，由于无法准确有效地测量现场裂纹长度，因此无法量化裂纹密封的好处（或裂纹密封对裂纹扩展的长期延迟效应）。在这项研究中，提出了 3D 激光技术来测量和比较密封和非密封路面部分之间裂缝长度的增长，并首次准确有效地量化裂缝密封效益。为了验证所提出的方法并找到合适的处理时间（或条件），在 2016 年 12 月至 2019 年 9 月的 3 年间，对美国乔治亚州具有不同路面预处理条件和道路环境因素的 9 个现场进行了监测。研究结果表明，裂缝封闭可延缓裂缝扩展40%~128%，且在较好的路面预处理条件下这种延缓作用更为显着。研究结果表明，运输机构可以通过在路面状况变差之前进行裂缝密封来延长路面的使用寿命。此外，这项工作已被证明对于运输机构确定裂缝密封的最佳时间和处理标准非常有价值。