Experience with the Construction of An Ultra-Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement

This paper describes the design and construction of an Ultra-Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement (UTCRCP) that has been constructed near Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa. The UTCRCP may be described as a specific implementation of Strain Hardening Cement-based Composites (SHCC) in the field of pavement engineering. Mix design of the concrete mix used is discussed in some detail, while the bulk of the paper addresses practical considerations related to the construction of the pavement. It is concluded that the design and construction of the pavement was done successfully, in large part due to the close co-operation between the client, consulting engineers and contractor. Some of the other conclusions include: the method of steel fixing employed ensured very tight control of steel mesh position; pre-mixing of certain dry components of the mix resulted in increased strength development, which may lead to a specification requiring this practice; the specification of the stone properties may be expanded to include both the Flakiness Index and the Average Least Dimension of the stone