REVIEW OF FRENCH AND BRITISH PROCEDURES IN THE DESIGN OF PRESTRESSED PAVEMENTS

A REVIEW IS PRESENTED OF CURRENT PRACTICES IN THE DESIGN OF PRESTRESSED PAVEMENTS FOR ROADS AND AIRPORTS IN FRANCE AND BRITAIN. MAJOR PRESTRESSED PAVEMENTS ARE CONSIDERED AND ANALYZED, OUTLINING DESIGN TRENDS IN RELATION TO UNITED STATES METHODS, AND SHOWING PROCEDURES FOR COMPUTING SLAB THICKNESS AND AMOUNT OF PRESTRESS AS A FUNCTION OF LOAD, TRAFFIC, SUBGRADE, AND CLIMATE. DESIGN OF RIGID PAVEMENTS BASED ON WESTERGAARD'S AND BOUSSINESQ'S METHODS IS OFTEN USED IN WESTERN EUROPE AS A GUIDE FOR THE DETERMINATION OF SLAB THICKNESS FOR RUNWAYS AND TAXIWAYS. FOR LIGHTER LOADS, WHICH ARE ENCOUNTERED IN HIGHWAY DESIGN, THE THICKNESS OF PAVEMENTS SEEMS TO BE DETERMINED LARGELY BY THE NEED TO PROVIDE ADEQUATE COVER FOR THE TENSIONING MATERIAL (TENDONS) AND SIX INCHES HAS BEEN COMMONLY USED. ALTHOUGH MANY METHODS HAVE BEEN TRIED, TWO-DIRECTIONAL PRESTRESSING IS MOST OFTEN USED, WITH THE AMOUNT OF PRESTRESSING HAVING BEEN GRADUALLY LOWERED IN RECENT PROJECTS TO VALUES NEAR 200 PSI. MOST PAVEMENTS HAVE BEEN BUILT ON FAIR TO VERY POOR SUBGRADES BUT HIGH TYPE BASES, SUCH AS MACADAM, ARE IN COMMON USE TO IMPROVE BEARING POWER. THE USE OF FRICTION REDUCING LAYERS OF SAND AND KRAFT PAPER IS AN ESTABLISHED PRACTICE ALTHOUGH THE RESULTING VALUES OF THE COEFFICIENT OF SUBGRADE RESTRAINT ARE THE SUBJECT OF WIDESPREAD RESEARCH AND SPECULATION. THE MOST COMMONLY ACCEPTED VALUE OF THE COEFFICIENT IS BETWEEN 0.5 AND 1.0. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbbulletin/179/179-001.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • No 179, pp 1-12, 7 FIG, 1 TAB, 22 REF 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:
  • Melville, Phillip
• Publication Date: 1958

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: Prestressed concrete pavement research
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Bulletin
  • Issue Number: 179
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airport runways; Base course (Pavements); Bearing capacity; Boussinesq equation; Coefficient of subgrade reaction; Macadam; Methodology; Pavement design; Pavements; Prestressed concrete; Prestressing; Rigid pavements; Sand; Thickness
• Uncontrolled Terms: Pavement thickness
• Old TRIS Terms: Bases; Boussinesq formula; Westergaard formula
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00205712
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 16 1994 12:00AM