Urban Concrete Applications (Track Slabs, Cycling Paths, Roundabouts) : Anna-Carin Brink

Concrete Pavements in the Public Domain

Dr Anna-Carin Brink1,

1 Associate-Principal, Pavements Lead Australasia, BEng, Meng, PhD, ARUP

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to highlight the fact that where it comes to the Public Domain, the impact of incorrectly designing concrete pavements and also architectural features such as natural stone setts/pavers in bound construction using concrete pavements as basecourse are often overlooked, resulting in unsightly failures. A concrete pavement is as good as its support meaning all concrete pavements must have a subbase. Concrete footpaths must not be built directly on sand as it is non-cohesive. It pumps through at joints (even in low traffic applications) and erodes, resulting in corner and edge breaks due to loss of support. There is no standard in Australia for the dimensional design of natural stone setts/pavers on top of concrete. Local Authorities may have in-house standards and construction details, but most have not been technically verified and are using incorrect terminology and details that are not constructible, often resulting in structural failures and trip hazards. To avoid creating unrealistic client expectations of large areas with so-called slip joints or no joints reflecting through from the underlying concrete pavement, there must be close collaboration between the Landscape Architect and the Pavement Engineer, from the start of the design process. This paper will propose appropriate international guides that may be used to design, detail and specify sustainable concrete pavements in the Public Domain.