Concrete pavements are continually subject to the effects of weather and traffic. These may cause tensile stresses at the top and bottom of the concrete road slabs. The resistance of the concrete slab to such effects depends on a large number of factors. In particular, the concrete tensile strength and...
Splitting Tensile Strength of Concrete Road Slabs – A Key Property for Load Capacity and Durability
Belgian Specifications for Freeze-Thaw-Resistant Pavement Concrete
The Belgian standard specifications contain a number of clear requirements for the composition of concrete mixtures and the properties of fresh and hardened concrete. It is generally known that water and air content have a substantial impact on the frost susceptibility of a concrete surface the former in a...
Optimal Pore Distribution of Porous Concrete Pavers Aggregate
Concrete pavers are often used for construction of urban area roads as they offer both easy and fast construction as well as high aesthetical value. Although noise reduction is also very important in urban areas, research focusing on low noise concrete pavers is still rare. This paper illustrates a study...
Guidelines for Concrete Roundabouts in the Netherlands
Due to the durability advantages of concrete pavements, the application of concrete for roundabouts is gaining more and more popularity among commissioning authorities. In the Netherlands it is estimated that there are over 3,000 roundabouts. The market share of concrete is still growing. Concrete roundabouts can only be durable when...
Comparison of Two Rehabilitation Worksites of Motorways Single Versus Double Layered CRCP
The technique of continuously reinforced concrete is used in Belgium for the construction or rehabilitation of heavily trafficked motorway sections. Since a few years, double layered CRCP is being considered in order to improve the rolling noise characteristics of the surface. In this paper, two worksites where CRCP was used,...
First Experience of Diamond Grinding Concrete in Mexico
The surface condition of a pavement is a factor that may vary due to the influence of traffic and construction methods, and is a functional characteristic that impacts the road user considerably. For concrete pavements in good structural condition, diamond grinding can be a highly effective and economical choice for...
New Developments of Porous Concrete and First Experiences in Germany
Porous surfaces of cement concrete (OPB) or asphalt concrete (OPA) have a permanent transfer of rainwater and additionally noise reduction potential compared to the dense microstructure with exposed aggregates concrete. Pervious concrete test sections in the field of heavy-duty highways previously reported, however, do not have sufficient durability. Causes of...
Pavement Type Hysteresis and Truck Rolling Resistance
Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) pavements usually incur higher investment costs than Asphalt Concrete (AC) alternatives. In a life cycle analysis the higher cost is justified by lower maintenance costs, less and fewer traffic flow intrusions, and a longer technical life. All these factors contribute to a reduction of the carbon...
Surface Stresses of Thick Concrete Pavement Slabs Due To Traffic Loads and Non-Linear Temperature Distributions
In this study, possibility of top-down cracking in concrete pavement was investigated. The main cause of the crack is supposed to be tensile stress at the top of the concrete slab. 3DFEM simulations that took into account actual temperature distributions throughout slab depth were performed on concrete pavements for a...
Methodology for Establishing Permanent Curl/Warp Temperature Gradients in Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements
Jointed plain concrete pavements curl due to temperature gradients and warp in the presence of drying shrinkage gradients. Since this deformation is restrained by factors, such as the slab self-weight, tensile stresses are generated. Slabs do not remain flat in the absence of daily gradients. This is due to the...
Structural Modeling of Rigid Pavement with Load-rate Dependent Subgrade
It has been observed by many researchers that the subgrade behavior is load rate dependent. The apparent subgrade stiffness is much higher under the fast moving axle loading than during the slow developing temperature curling and moisture warping. However, traditionally a single k-value is used for both curling and axle...
Causes and effects of longitudinal shrinkage and temperature stresses on JPCP for Dutch conditions
In 2010 Houben has published a paper on the modelling of the process of cracking at transverse joints in jointed plain concrete pavements (JPCP). Houben uses equations from the standard Eurocode 2 for the time-dependent concrete properties and considers the thermal deformation and the shrinkage (drying and autogenous) for different...