Impacts of Variability in Coefficient of Thermal Expansion on Predicted Concrete Pavement Performance

Research reported in recent years has documented the importance of the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) as a key input to characterize concrete behavior in mechanistic-empirical pavement design. This study aimed to define how sensitive a factor the CTE is for pavement design using the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Pavement ME Design® software and to examine the level of precision that is required by the current CTE test method. An evaluation of the impact of CTE on rigid pavement design was conducted using Level 1 input data from actual field projects, specifically to observe its effect on the predicted concrete thickness necessary to meet distress limits. The study was conducted by adjusting the CTE values to evaluate their impact on predicted distresses, predicted design life, and the required pavement thickness needed to achieve the desired design life. The change in predicted service life based on varying the CTE over the expected testing error of the test method, along with the associated costs, was investigated. A difference in performance was predicted when using Level 1 and Level 2 materials inputs. The results from this study provide guidance on the level of precision required for the CTE test method that is acceptable based on its impact on the required pavement thickness. A precision of ±00.3 microstrains/°F for CTE was found to be reasonable based on the minimal impact (0.5 inch) to the optimized pavement thicknesses to be built. However, examination of the difference in predicted service life further demonstrated the sensitivity of the CTE input.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFN20 Properties of Concrete.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • McCarthy, Leslie
  • Gudimettla, Jagan M
  • Crawford, Gary L
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC
  • Date: 2014-1-12 to 2014-1-16
• Date: 2014

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 18p
• Monograph Title: TRB 93rd Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coefficients; Concrete pavements; Mechanistic-empirical pavement design; Pavement design; Pavement distress; Pavement performance; Rigid pavements; Thermal expansion
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01515114
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 14-2220
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 21 2014 3:16PM