CT4860 STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF PAVEMENTS

Preface
Cement concrete is used in many countries all over the world as a paving
material for heavily loaded main highways, farm to market roads, public
transport bus lanes, airport aprons etc.
Three types of concrete pavement are distinguished, which are:
- Plain (unreinforced) concrete pavement.
Through transverse (and longitudinal) contraction joints the pavement is
divided into a system of slabs of limited size. In the joints provisions are
taken to ensure load transfer and evenness at long term.
This pavement type is the most commonly used one, also in the
Netherlands.
- Continuously reinforced concrete pavement.
This pavement type has no transverse contraction joints. The continuous
longitudinal reinforcement (reinforcement 0.6% to 0.75%) is controlling the
crack pattern that develops due to hardening of the concrete and thermal
shrinkage.
This pavement type is widely used in e.g. Belgium and the USA, and since
a few decades it is also applied (with a porous asphalt wearing course) on
a number of motorway stretches in the Netherlands.
- Prestressed concrete pavement.
In such a pavement such high compressive stresses are introduced that
no cracks develop due to external loadings. This system allows the
construction of rather thin concrete slabs of huge size.
This pavement type never became very popular; only on Amsterdam
Airport Schiphol this type of concrete pavement was constructed on the
older aprons.
Because of its nature, concrete slabs will shrink, expand, curl and warp
because of temperature movements.
These movements not only take place when the concrete is hardened but also
during the hardening phase when shrinkage takes place.
All this means that much care should be given to the design and construction
of concrete pavements especially since discontinuities (joints, edges and
corners) are involved.
These lecture notes, which were carefully prepared by ir. L.J.M. Houben, are
giving the necessary background information for the structural design of plain
and reinforced concrete pavements. Emphasis is placed on the analytical
design procedures but also some empirical design methods are presented.
Prof.dr.ir. A.A.A. Molenaar