Restraint Stresses in Young Concrete Pavements

Under adversè conditions, the restraint stresses of young concrete pavements can cause the forma-tion of random cracks. In order to determine theparameters which influence the formation of thesestresses a full-scale experiment including sixdifferent test sections was performed. The experi-ment showsthe greatinfluenceof climaticconditionsin the days after placing the concrete. The analy-sis of the experimental data permits establishingthe possible range of the restraint stresses. Alsothe correct instant for cutting the joints in orderto avoid the formation of random cracks is deter-mined.