Actual Specification of Concrete Pavement and a System For Ultimate Limit State Design

At this time, in Germany two new constructions for heavy duty roads were introduced into RStO: the "Thick Concrete Pavement on Coarse Aggregate Layer" and the "Concrete pavement on Hydraulic Bound Road Base with Geotextile Membrane between both". The standardizised thickness of rigid pavement in "RStO" only depends on the number of axle loads during service life of 30 years and on the kind of base and it´s bearing capacity - further more it is linked only with the minimum demands which are fixed in building regulations. However, simultaneous to standardization a thickness design system after ultimate limit state and serviceability state was developed by the author. It follows the common system of buildung construction design which is usual for concrete structures now. Special safety considerations had to be done for road construction and a lot of influences on thickness design had to be taken into consideration. A handbook " Concrete Pavement for Road Traffic Areas - Design Load, Moment Calculation, Ultimate Limit State Design " was worked out. Based on this a computer program was finished, With the help of this it is possible to do a lot of comparing designs within only a few minutes.