EFFECT OF CRACKS ON BENDING STIFFNESS IN CONTINUOUS PAVEMENTS

TRANSVERSE CONTRACTION JOINTS IN RIGID PAVEMENTS WERE LONG CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL TO PREVENTING PAVEMENT DAMAGE FROM VOLUME-CHANGE STRESSES. CONTINOUSLY REINFORCED CONCRETE PAVEMENT HANDLES THESE STRESSES IN ANOTHER WAY. IT ALLOWS THE PAVEMENT TO DEVELOP A REGULAR PATTERN OF VERY FINE RANDOM CRACKS. IN PREVIOUS ANALYSIS OF SUCH PAVEMENTS, IT HAS BEEN EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO EVALUATE THE EFFECT OF CRACKS ON THE LOAD CARRYING CAPACITY AND SUBSEQUENT PERFORMANCE OF THE SLAB. THIS PAPER PRESENTS AN ANALYTICAL LOOK AT THE PROBLEM OF TRANSVERSE CRACKING IN CONTINUOUSLY REINFORCED CONCRETE PAVEMENTS. THE INFLUENCE OF THESE CRACKS ON THE LONGITUDINAL BENDING RIGIDITY WAS STUDIED BY USING BASIC MOMENT-CURVATURE RELATIONS. A RELATION WAS DEVELOPED THAT EXPRESSES THE AVERAGE MOMENT OF INERTIA DUE TO THE EFFECT OF THE CRACK AS A FUNCTION OF MATERIAL PROPERTIES AND SLAB GEOMETRIC CHARACTERISTICS. RESULTS SHOWED THAT A SIGNIFICANT DROP OF 80 TO 90 PERCENT IN THE BENDING RIGIDITY IS ENCOUNTERED AT CRACK LOCATIONS. FURTHERMORE, THE DEVELOPMENT LENGTH BOND IDEA WAS USED TO SPECIFY THE SLAB PORTION AFFECTED BY THE DISCONTINUITY. A PROCEDURE TO SIMULATE THIS EFFECT BY USING THE DISCRETE-ELEMENT METHOD OF SLAB ANALYSIS IS OUTLINED. THE PROCEDURE IS GENERAL AND SIMPLE TO USE.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrr/1972/407/407-002.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Sponsored by Committee on Rigid Pavement Design. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
• Authors:
  • Abou-Ayyash, Adnan
  • Hudson, W Ronald
  • Treybig, Harvey J
• Conference:
  • 51st Annual Meeting of the Highway Research Board
  • Location: Washington District of Columbia, United States
  • Date: 1972-1-17 to 1972-1-21
• Publication Date: 1972

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: pp 10-21
• Monograph Title: Pavement technology
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Record
  • Issue Number: 407
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bending; Continuously reinforced concrete pavements; Mathematical analysis; Moments of inertia; Stiffness; Transverse cracking
• Old TRIS Terms: Moment of inertia
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00207494
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 15 1973 12:00AM