Dutch Design Tool for Jointed and Continuously Reinforced Concrete Road Pavements

Almost all jointed concrete pavements in the Netherlands, varying from low volume country roads to dual carriage motorways, are designed with the ‘Vencon 1.0’ program. The program needed to be upgraded to the Windows operating system. The upgrade also gave an opportunity to reconsider the design models of the old program, to incorporate the CRCP design method and update ‘standard’ input data such as the axle load spectra, tire type spectra as well as temperature gradient spectra. The program still uses the edge load Wesergaard formula for slab thickness design, however, were extended with Van Cauwelaert's closed form solutions to design for bound base layers. The ‘Delft University tensile member model’ is used to design the reinforcement and to predict the cracking pattern of the continuously reinforced concrete pavement. The CRCP-model was validated with in-situ measurements of two CRCP roads. The program distinguishes three user levels (junior, medior, senior). The tool is developed under CROWs responsibility. This paper provides an outline of the calculation process and the key models and improvements to the program.