Field investigation of early-age behaviour of continuously reinforced concrete pavement with semi-rigid base

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the early-age behaviour of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) on the semi-rigid base, including structural behaviour during transverse crack propagation and curling behaviour both in the longitudinal and transverse direction. Field experiments are operated on a CRCP section in Wuhan, China. Vibrating wire strain gauges were installed at mid-slab and slab edge in the longitudinal and transverse direction for concrete strain and temperature measurement. Testing results showed the complexity of early-age behaviour of CRCP on semi-rigid base and curing with wet burlap sheets. An early-age transverse crack may originate from the bottom of the concrete slab due to the water absorption of the dry semi-rigid base. The development of a transverse crack took several cooling cycles. Curling behaviour in the longitudinal direction did not correspond to the temperature gradient after transverse crack occurrence. Typical curling motion in the transverse direction was found in the mid-slab rather than the slab edge. The findings of this study would lead to a better understanding of the early-age structure behaviour of CRCP on semi-rigid base and its impact on later road performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP)
• early-age structural behaviour
• field investigation
• curling behaviour
• transverse crack
• semi-rigid base

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research work was supported by the Science and Technology Project of Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China (2020-MS1-061); the Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (2020CFB567); The Science and Technology Project of Wuhan Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. (H00446); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2018KFYYXJJ002) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51708244).