Development of mechanical tube feeding method for construction of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP)

ABSTRACT

In South Korea, the performance of continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) has been better than that of jointed concrete pavement (JCP). However, most of the Portland cement concrete (PCC) pavements in South Korea have been JCP, primarily due to the difficulty in providing extra space along the edge of the pavement needed for concrete delivery in CRCP construction. In a tube-feeding method (TFM), concrete can be supplied from the front of a paver, which could facilitate CRCP construction without extra space needed. In the present study, efforts were made to improve the capability of TFM in placing longitudinal steel at correct elevations, which resulted in the development of tube feeding equipment (TFE). Field testing results showed that the key to ensuring steel placement at correct elevations was to keep longitudinal steel in adequate tension. The distance from the back of the tubes and the front of the mould, up to 1500 mm, did not have substantial effects on the steel settlement. To evaluate the viability of CRCP construction with TFE, a 400 m long CRCP section with 300 mm slab thickness and 8.2-m width was constructed and performance monitored.

KEYWORDS:

• Continuously reinforced concrete pavement
• CRCP construction
• tube-feeding method
• concrete pavement
• steel placement method

Acknowledgement

This study was conducted under research project (Development of Eco-Friendly Pavements to Minimize Greenhouse Gas Emissions) funded by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and the Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement (KAIA). The authors would like to thank the members of research team, MOLIT and KAIA for their guidances and supports throughout the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.