Status of a Five Year Old 170 mm Thick Jointed High Strength Concrete Pavement in Norway

The current pavement is a 8.6 km long part of the main highway North of Oslo. The concrete has a characteristic cube strength of 90MPa and the slab thickness is 170 mm. The subbase mainly consists of local natural sand and gravel. The general condition of the pavement is rather good, however in aproximately 1 % of the 4200 slabs longitudinal cracks have developed. It is apparent that all cracks start at construction joints and the main reasons for cracking are probably due to the performance of thcsc joints. The effects of traffic lcad and temperature and shrinkage effects related to the construction phase are more adverse for these joints.