Abstract

Horizontal cracks at the mid-depth of concrete slabs were observed at a section of the continuously reinforced concrete pavement(CRCP) structures on the Korea Highway Corporation`s Test Road. To investigate the existence and the extent of horizontal cracks in the concrete slab, a number of cores were taken from the section of CRCP. To identify the causes of horizontal cracks, numerical analyses were conducted. Several variables relative to design, material, and environment were considered in the studies to evaluate possible causes of horizontal cracking. A numerical model of CRCP was developed using the finite element discretization, and the shear and normal tensile stress distributions in CRCP were investigated with the model. Numerical analysis results show that the maximum shear and normal tensile stresses develop near the depth of steel bars at transverse cracks. If those maximum stresses reach the strength of concrete, horizontal cracks occur. The maximum stresses become higher as the environmental loads, coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete, and elastic modulus of concrete increase.

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