Research on Relationships among Different Disease Types of Cement Concrete Pavement Based on Structural Equation Model

In order to determine the key content of preventive maintenance of the cement concrete pavement in military airports in the seasonal frozen area, the relationship among pavement diseases is analyzed in this paper, and the degree of impact of each disease on pavement damage is quantified. Based on the survey data of 36 sample airports in 12 provinces, such as Hebei, Shandong, and Liaoning, a questionnaire covering many disease variables affecting pavement damage was designed. The exploratory factor analysis method and structural equation model (SEM) were used to analyze the interaction among joint disease, surface disease, vertical disease, repair disease, and fracture disease. And the influence degree of each disease on pavement damage was quantified as well. The research results show that the questionnaire has good reliability and validity and is suitable for confirmatory factor analysis. The SEM fits well with the observed data and meets the adaptation standard. Joint disease, surface disease, and vertical disease all have significant positive direct impact on pavement damage. Moreover, joint disease and surface disease can also indirectly affect pavement damage. The effects of surface disease (0.327), vertical disease (0.283), and joint disease (0.219) on pavement damage decrease in turn. Surface diseases have the greatest impact on pavement damage, which are the critical diseases to accelerate the pavement damage. By strengthening the prevention and control of surface diseases and delaying the conversion process of other diseases to surface diseases, the service life of the pavement can be greatly improved, and the maintenance cost can be reduced.