Effects of Temperature and Moisture on Concrete Pavements

During hardening concrete pavements do not have a uniform distribution of temperature throughout the thickness. The calculation of tem-perature stresses has to start from the differencebetween the zero-stress-temperature and the actualtemperature. Itisadvantageous if (for example dueto wet-curing) the zero-stress-temperature is lowerat the top than in the middle of the slab. If at alater date the concrete pavement is cooled downsuddenly, only reduced tensile residual stresses re-sult at the top.If the drainage is poor the concrete pavementabsorbs water by capillary suction at the sub-baseand dries out at the top. This moisture gradientthroughout the thickness of the slabs causes war-ping like negative temperature gradients and resi-dual stresses. Therefore long-term concentrationsof water underneath the concrete pavement mustbe avoided.