Effect of Curling Behavior on Surface Smoothness of Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement

The curling behavior of the continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) under environmental loads was analyzed by measuring vertical displacements at a number of different longitudinal and transverse locations, and the relationship between the surface smoothness and curling behavior was investigated. Two different crack spacings were selected and at each discrete slab formed by the selected crack spacing the gages were installed along the longitudinal and transverse directions to measure the vertical displacement variations under environmental loads. The field experimental analysis results showed that the vertical relative displacements of the CRCP along the transverse direction were very clear especially at the outer edge, and those along the longitudinal direction were affected slightly by the crack spacing. At a designated transverse location, the daily differences in the vertical displacements along the longitudinal direction due to curling tended to increase as the crack spacing became larger. Since the variation of the vertical displacements along the longitudinal direction can affect the ride quality, the Profile Indices were considered depending on the cracking spacing. This study confirmed that the effect of the curling behavior of the CRCP on the surface smoothness was negligible even with large crack spacings.